Pokemon Rebel Homecoming
by nasdreks
Summary: The direct sequel to Pokemon Rebel. It's been a year and a half since former juvenile delinquent Lucas has become a Pokemon Trainer and traversed the Sinnoh and Hoenn Regions. Now it's on to his next two Championships as he returns to his home region of Johto. But Lucas will face his family, old friends, new enemies and the consequences of his past life.
1. Chapter 1 Prodigal Son

Chapter One: Prodigal Son

In the South Pacific, far west of North America and far east of Asia exists a series of island regions like none other on the planet. For generations, Man had traveled to these islands for different reasons, but came to stay for the exact same one. First came the sea nomads, people who traveled from island to island, living off the bounties of the water and the fruits and plants of the islands. Then came the Japanese, great warriors in naval flotillas exploring to see how far they could conquer in their Emperor's name, and monks in tiny rafts braving the dangers of the ocean in search of knowledge and enlightenment. Next came the Europeans during the Age of Exploration, merchants looking for new fare that could be sold and shortcuts to India and the Far East. Later when the world seemed constantly at war, the great army and navy of the United States used these lands as a tactical base. Generation after generation, culture after culture came to these seemingly innocuous lands to all discover the same thing, that they were filled with amazing creatures of unmatched variety, bravery, loyalty and ability. Creatures that came to be known as Pokemon.

As more and more people settled into these lands bringing with them the ways and histories of their original homelands, they soon found their technology, economy and very way of life shaped by these amazing creatures, as Pokemon became friends and partners with humanity. Humans who captured and trained Pokemon were called Trainers, and it was a rite of passage for children as young as ten years old to go off on their own and test their strengths and wills. Unthinkable anywhere else on earth, parents knew that with a loyal Pokemon by their child's side, no harm would come to their offspring. Trainers who challenged the various Gyms across these regions could collect badges and have the right to face the toughest Trainers in their respective lands, the Elite Four, and perhaps even become the Champion. High ranking Trainers were among the most respected and powerful members of society and rules of fair play were established by the Pokemon League, the closest thing these regions had to a centralized government. In their world where issues could be settled in the ring of combat, and anyone could fight back against bigotry and tyranny with the strength of a loyal team, the typical bureaucracy of armed services, a centralized government leader and a strict unification of law were unnecessary. Though made up of largely autonomous regions influenced by their original cultures, called by names like Unova, Kalos and Sinnoh, these lands in the South Pacific became known to the rest of Earth simply as The Pokemon World.

The largest, and one of the most important of these lands, known as the Sister Regions were Johto in the west, and Kanto in the east. The most heavily influenced by their largely Japanese population, Kanto and Johto were connected by a small chain of mountains. Unlike the other regions in the Pokemon World, Kanto and Johto shared a single Pokemon League known collectively as the Indigo League, in honor of the flower named cities that lied in the west, and the color based cities in the east. Eight badges from either regions' Gyms qualified a Trainer to face the Elite Four, and only facing each region's unique Champion required that region's specific Gym Badges. Kanto was more like modern Japan, full of skyscrapers with scurrying salarymen, karaoke bars, the latest technology and most modern of conveniences. Johto was more Old World, in between sushi bars and Idols remained tea houses and geishas. Entire cities were still filled with the wooden buildings designed by their ancestors and children minded their elders and treated the various shrines tucked along the roads with the same reverences their grandparents and great-grandparents did.

Those who came in on any of the dozens of ferries to the coastal town of Olivine City got their first taste of how Johto defiantly embraced tradition when seeing the Old Lighthouse, still lit with the power of an electric type Pokemon. For most newcomers, this sight filled them with a sense of awe and wonder, but for one passenger on the latest ferry pulling into the city's port, the feeling was more bittersweet. Almost a year and a half ago it was the last thing he saw from the Region he once called home. Those who witnessed the event would have seen a frustrated man and woman drag their teenage son to one of the boats. The boy was not very tall but had the hardened muscle tone of a fighter with a wide nose, stubborn jaw and olive skin that evoked his mixed heritage of Japanese, Caucasian and Polynesian that was commonplace in the Pokemon World. He looked and acted every bit the punk he was with black, steel-toed boots, pocketed vest, sleeveless shirt, heavily tattooed arms, pierced face and fire engine red Mohawk contrasting with his closely-shaven, dyed-black scalp, and cursed, threatened and begged his parents not to have to go. His screams were ignored as his mother and father shoved the army green duffel bag with all his worldly possessions into his arms and sent him off to the far-off Region of Sinnoh to live with the boy's older brother.

Now he had returned.

Though the boy who stepped off the boat bore the same tattoos, Mohawk and piercings he had before, they would see that he was no longer the thug that pleaded with his family not to be sent away. Cockiness and defiance were replaced with dignity and genuine pride as he stood tall and scanned the pier. His skin had darkened into a deep tan from weeks of traveling on foot on the road and his steel-toed boots were starting to grow worn. Though his face was clouded with melancholy, the harsh, rage-filled brown eyes that challenged anyone around him had softened and most obvious of all was the tiny Eevee that sat comfortably on the boy's shoulder.

"Oh my god, I think that's Lucas! The new Hoenn League Champion!" a man in his mid twenties cried out to his younger companion, a girl in her late teens.

"Oh wow, I think you're right. He must have come to Johto to challenge the Indigo League. I hope I can get his autograph, he is an incredibly Trainer!" the girl replied as the two approached the seventeen year old boy.

"I'm almost tempted to challenge him to a battle, but he's way out of my league. Did you see the way he beat the Sinnoh Champion? I've probably watched that video online fifteen times!" as the older man came up to the Trainer, more and more of a crowd had gathered. People of all ages asked Lucas questions, for autographs and to pet the fluffy Pokemon on his shoulder that become as famous as he had. In spite of his intimidating looks Lucas responded graciously to everyone who approached him, and when the crowd dispersed, thrilled with meeting the celebrity Trainer, he shook his head and marveled at what had just happened.

"The difference a year and a half makes, Gizmo," Lucas said to his Pokemon as much to himself. When his parents had dragged him to the Olivine City pier for the ferry to Sinnoh, he had just been expelled from his high school, was looking at a third stint in juvenile detention and was a member of a gang that terrorized his hometown of Cherrygrove City. They had hoped sending him to live with his older brother John, himself an accomplished Pokemon Trainer and former three League Champion, would finally straighten out their younger son. For Lucas this was the worst fate he could think of. In addition to being conceded, bullying and self absorbed, the teen's older brother also had the distinction of being good at almost anything he touched. Well liked in his community, good at school and a beloved athlete, John overshadowed Lucas in almost every way. The boy had tolerated this in most aspects, until at seven years old John had taken away the one interest and dream Lucas thought was his alone: Pokemon. At ten, John had surprised his family by becoming a Trainer and traveled through the Indigo and Sinnoh Leagues, becoming even more accomplished and beloved. Deciding since John was going to be good at everything, Lucas thought the place out of his brother's shadow was to be as bad as possible. He joined a gang and spent his life terrorizing random citizens, vandalizing buildings and getting into near constant streets brawls.

A chance encounter with a sick Eevee and the renowned Pokemon Professor Oak changed all that. Lucas was given a second chance to live his dream and become a Pokemon Trainer. He issued a challenge to his older brother and promised to become an even more accomplished Trainer than John was, gain four Championships to John's three and would return to face his older brother in a Pokemon battle to prove once and for all he was not his brother's inferior.

Lucas had left an infamous troublemaker and returned to Johto a two League Champion, and half-way to his goal. He had faced countless challenges in his Journey: relearning the skills and techniques needed to be a Trainer, battling new rivals and those with evil intentions, and dealing with the transformation from inexperienced underdog to the strange pressure of celebrity as a Champion. The one thing he didn't expect to deal with was the surge of conflicting emotions upon returning home. Part of him wanted to run home to his parents immediately and see the growth their youngest son had experienced. Another was terror about facing the consequences of what the actions from his old life would bear. These thoughts had troubled him the entire boat ride back, but now actually setting foot in Olivine City, he was almost paralyzed with indecision.

From one of the many pockets on his vest, Lucas pulled out a small red and white touch screen electronic called a Pokevice. Serving as a tablet, phone and Trainer Guide, the Trainer flipped through his contacts to see who he would inform first. Among his contacts were his parents, brother, Professor Oak, a fellow Cherrygrove Trainer named Morgan and Skyler, the love of Lucas' life. A Trainer from Blackthorn City and member of the Dragon Tamer clan, Skyler had been Lucas' traveling partner in Hoenn, sharing the road and its difficulties as the teen fought for the Hoenn League badges. Lucas had fallen in love with the older boy, and towards the end, the two realized how much they meant to each other. But after Lucas' Championship, Skyler was forced to return to his home and his clan. A knot squeezed in Lucas' chest upon reading his boyfriend's name. He would not be able to see him again until his Blackthorn City badge, which he could not receive until he registered with the Indigo League.

With that Lucas finally came to a decision. Cherrygrove City would not be his first stop. Instead, he would go to New Bark Town to visit Professor Elm and get registered. It would give him a chance to relay information to the professor from his old teacher Professor Oak, and gave him more time to build up the courage to face his parents. Of all the challenges he had faced, it still seemed his own past was still Lucas' largest obstacle.


	2. Chapter 2 Rewriting History

Chapter Two: Rewriting History

After nearly a year and a half of traveling the Sinnoh and Hoenn regions, Lucas had returned to face the Johto part of the Indigo League for his third Championship, as well as face his own past. Johto was Lucas' homeland, and he knew sooner or later he would have to return to Cherrygrove City. For now, he opted for later, and instead focused on League business first.

For a Trainer to actually capture Pokemon and challenge Pokemon League Gyms, they first had to register with a League representative, usually a Pokemon Researcher who often gave new Trainers their starter Pokemon. In Johto, that researcher was Professor Elm, whose facility was in the small town of New Bark Town, nestled just to the west of the Indigo mountain range and just across the lake from the Indigo Plateau itself. Like most Pokemon research facilities, it was located away from larger, more populated communities whose presence may alter natural Pokemon behavior and distort research. So while New Bark Town was tiny and almost entirely inconsequential, for Professor Elm's purposes it was perfect.

It did not take Lucas long to arrive from the port city of Olivine to New Bark Town. Johto was his home, and Lucas had visited almost every city at least once, so it was no difficulty to direct his flying Pokemon, his Charizard Hotrod, to where he needed to go. Unlike the other towns and the other Pokemon Researchers in the other regions, Lucas had met Professor Elm before, though it was a very, very long time ago.

The nostalgia was overwhelming. New Bark Town didn't seem to have changed at all. A breeze constantly blew, turning the large wind turbines that dwarfed the small buildings and houses at their base. Few people lived in New Bark Town, mostly families of the researchers who worked with the Professor or young couples starting out and wanting a cheap place to raise a growing family. The town largely grew around the facility and its buildings were newer than almost any other city in the region. Though the architecture was modern, the houses themselves were all painted in muted, antique colors to fit more with Johto's stubborn cling to its past. The town was so small it didn't even have a Pokemon Center or a shop, Lucas' home of Cherrygrove City the closest place to get any supplies. It even smelled the same. The mulchy, earthy smell of wet and rotting pine needles from the trees in the mountains and the slightly salty tang of Cherrygrove's small beach just down the road.

Professor Elm's lab was easy to find even if Lucas didn't already know the location. It was the largest, tallest and most modern looking of any of the handful of houses in the tiny burg. Familiarity with the town also told him that just down the block of the lab was the professor's home, and across the way was the house where the former Champion Gold had been raised. The teen took a deep breath and shook off the sentimentality. Though coming here was largely a stalling tactic, he did have genuine business with the professor. As he put his hand on the lab's door, he was surprised to find his hand shaking and butterflies in his stomach. He couldn't understand why. He was very young when he had come to the lab and the memories had all been pleasant.

When Lucas was four years old, a family friend who was a Pokemon Trainer stayed at his home and introduced him to the magical world of Pokemon. In addition to letting the boy play with his team, the Trainer had taken him to meet Professor Elm. Lucas' memories of the man were hazy, but from what he could recall, the professor had been nice, and promised when the boy was old enough for his Trainer's License he could have any one of the region's three starter Pokemon. Reaching back into those memories brought Lucas his answer, why he was reacting so strangely and seemed frozen in front of the lab's door. This was supposed to have happened when he was ten years old. He was supposed to have picked a Pokemon and set off on this Journey seven years ago. His life was supposed have been different. John was not the one meant to be the Trainer, he was. So many of his plans and dreams were altered because of John's choices and being here brought all that pain and rage back.

Lucas gripped the door handle tighter and closed his eyes. He promised himself he would no longer let his past, or John control his actions. So what if he lost his chance at ten? He was getting his second chance now. Lucas was neither the exhausted younger brother bound in inferiority nor the rage-filled punk the world had given up on. Pokemon were his passion and his talent, and no matter what memories he had associated with here, Cherrygrove City or any other part of Johto, he would not let his past dictate his future. Not anymore.

Feelings like the ones he had getting off the ferry at Olivine were no longer permitted. He would let the knowledge he had of this region and its Gym Leaders be an asset, not a hindrance. At this moment, he would rewrite history. The life he was supposed to have as a Trainer at age ten would be the life he has now. Better, even. While the actions he took and the mistakes he made may not be all things he was proud of, it did make him who he was. It allowed him to meet the people and Pokemon that made up his new life. The shaking in his hand stopped and he pulled open the door with confidence. His stomach continued to flutter, but this time it was with excitement, not fear.

"Excuse me, may I speak to Professor Elm?" Lucas called out boldly. Like many other labs, Professor Elm's was made up of many parts: research rooms filled with papers, clean rooms for doing untainted experiments and rooms for keeping samples for observation all occupied by the professor's aides and assistants doing their work. They all stopped momentarily to study the newcomer when a man stepped out of his office.

"Yes?" Lucas had learned over his travels that Pokemon researchers came in all shapes and sizes, but Professor Elm came closest to what Lucas always envisioned what scientists should be. Slender, awkward, pale and with a receding hairline, Professor Elm had a nebbish, nervous quality that culminated into coming off into a classic nerdy stereotype. He adjusted his glasses—more quirk than necessity—as he examined the Trainer who had called for him.

"My name is Lucas. I'm a Pokemon Trainer and I've come here to register with the Johto League. Professor Oak also sends his regards," Professor Oak had called Lucas on the boat to congratulate him on his latest Championship and had asked him to check in on his old student, Professor Elm.

The professor scrunched his forehead thoughtfully, and then his jaw dropped in amazement, "Lucas? Is that really you? My goodness, I haven't seen you since you were a little boy. You changed so much, I barely recognize you!"

The man's reaction caught the teen off-guard, "Y-you _remember_ me?"

"Ha ha, of course I do. I know it was a long time ago but in my line of work you never forget someone who is so passionate about Pokemon. I mean, most little kids are thrilled when they first get to see Pokemon, but there was something about that spark in your eyes that told me 'nope, this kid is special, this kid is going to love Pokemon his whole life.' I was very sad and surprised that you never came to me for your tenth birthday. But at least you're here now, and I see that look in your eyes is still there," in spite of his promise to himself, Lucas found the professor's words overwhelming, and felt his chest tight with emotion. He fought the temptation to run up to the man and hug him, for never having forgotten or given up on him. To think, with all the problems Lucas was having that someone like this was just the town over. "You can come with me to my office and we can take care of everything,"

Lucas followed the professor back through the door. The man's private office was cluttered with papers and a half-eaten plate of food brought by his wife. His computer was in the back next to a display stand with three Pokeballs and a framed photo of a little girl with the professor, "Is this your daughter?"

"That it is. It's from a few years ago, just before she turned ten. If I remember she was a year or so younger than you are, so that was just before her Journey. She didn't end up Training for long, but now she's back in school wanting to be a researcher just like me. Probably one of the proudest days of my life, though I must admit she's more like her mother than me thankfully," Professor Elm tapped a few keys on his computer and it booted back up to life, "Your Trainer's License, if you could," Lucas reached into the vest pocket over his heart where he held his most important items including the license and his Pokedex. When he had first gotten the card in Eterna City from Professor Oak it was red, indicating he was a beginning Trainer. Now it was black with gold stripes on the top and bottom, indicating he was a high level expert Trainer. The professor looked over the card admiringly before inserting it into a device attached to his PC, "It looks like you've had quite a Journey yourself, and must be quite the Trainer. I've probably only seen five of those expert level cards in person. And you own a fantastic selection of Pokemon as well,"

The Trainer cards ranked from red for beginner, blue for intermediate, silver for professional, gold for expert, black with gold stripes for high level expert and the highest ranking was white with gold stripes. Only two Trainers alive currently had the white cards: Lance from Blackthorn City, and Red, the second youngest Champion of the Indigo League. It hadn't even occurred to Lucas that it was possible he may one day become the third. His focus was entirely on proving himself and one day facing his brother, "I've been trying. Professor Oak gave me a Pokedex and Professor Birch asked me to be more thorough about filling it out,"

"In that case can I ask you for a favor as well?"

"Well, sure. Anything,"

"I don't know if you're aware or not, but my field of expertise is Pokemon reproduction. We can breed Pokemon, but the exact details of how or why it happens is still largely a mystery. They don't reproduce like other animals, and almost all Pokemon species can interbreed with one and other. I've devoted my life to these mysteries, so I try to get as much field information as I can. I'm hoping that in addition to the Pokemon you capture, you give me as much information about the Pokemon you breed, as well. Or better yet, any information about Pokemon you see breeding in the wild. If we can finally break down how Pokemon reproduction works, it could lead to all sorts of things!" Professor Elm explained excitedly.

"It would be my pleasure, Professor," Lucas responded.

A moment later the computer beeped and the researcher pulled the card out and handed it back over to the Trainer, "Here you go, all registered and legal. I'm sure since you're a Johto native I don't have to go over to rules and laws about the League. Just remember that if you face Kanto as well you won't need to register again because we're considered the same League. You'll just need their badges to face their Champion," as Lucas took back the card the professor added, "Just one last thing,"

"What's that?"

"I really want you to take one of my starter Pokemon," Professor Elm gestured to pedestal by the computer.

"P-professor, I don't know..." Lucas had encountered the generosity of people of the Pokemon World before. Perfect strangers had given him valuable items and Pokemon for no other reason than claiming they saw the kindness and potential Lucas possessed. While he ended up taking these gifts graciously, this offer felt like he would somehow be taking advantage of the man. He looked at the walls of the office. There were hundreds of pictures of ecstatic children with their starter Pokemon, all just about to start their Journeys. Among them were photos of Gold, a strangely familiar sullen girl with a Chikorita and his brother John with his Totodile. Even after all this time, he still felt like he didn't belong on these walls.

"You were supposed to get one of these Pokemon when you were ten. I was shocked to see your brother come but never you. I don't know why you never came. Maybe something I did failed you on motivating you on your Journey back then. But you're here now, so I think it's finally time," Professor Elm gestured again to the Pokemon on the desk, and clapped his hand on the shoulder Gizmo wasn't sitting on.

Lucas gave a nervous glance to the man, still annoyed with himself that all his childhood insecurities were rearing their ugly head again in spite of his declaration. It surprised everyone when John came home with his starter Pokemon and declared he was going on a Journey. Before that happened this moment was all Lucas ever dreamed about, choosing a Pokemon from Professor Elm. Lucas had given up on Pokemon when his brother became a Trainer, but when confronting John in Eterna City and having met Professor Oak, his dream came back to life. Now the moment Lucas wanted all his life was back, and a Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile all his own potentially lied before him. Totodile was immediately excluded. Lucas was not about to have the same starter Pokemon his brother had. That left the fire and grass type starters. The fire type would be the most advantageous for the Johto League, while the grass Pokemon would do better in Kanto. His original starter Hotrod became a powerhouse, as did the Torterra and Marshtomp he had received in the previous regions. Lucas had a loose rule that he would focus on Training new Pokemon in new Regions so that his arsenal was more balanced, and his Pokemon would receive equal affection and attention. After much debating back and forth, Lucas settled on the Cyndaquil.

"Excellent choice. Just one final order of business and you can go on your way. I know this is old hat to you at this point, but I'm excited to see you start again on your Journey. Just remember to keep me abreast of any details you discover on Pokemon breeding,"

It was late afternoon when Lucas finally left the lab and headed back on the road. Professor Elm returned to his work with his aides. But in his office a new picture was mounted on his walls. Though the boy in the picture was older than the other Trainers, with stretched lobes in his ears, hoops and bars in his eyebrows and rings in either corner of his mouth, his smile was just as bright as he posed with his Pokemon.


	3. Chapter 3 Goming Home

Chapter Three: Going Home

It had only been a few hours since Lucas had returned to Johto, but after everything that had happened it felt like he had already returned for weeks. His ferry arrived from Hoenn in Olivine City in the early afternoon, and he had flown to New Bark Town to meet with Professor Elm and register with the Indigo League. It had been many years since he saw the professor, and it had been a surprisingly emotional experience for the teenager. The Trainer received a Pokemon from him, a female Cyndaquil Lucas named Barbarella, and headed back on the road.

It was late afternoon now. The sky was starting to turn orange, coloring the already brown trees and road a warmer hue. After facing New Bark Town and realizing how badly nostalgia was affecting his thoughts and actions, Lucas had promised himself he would no longer let his past dictate his feelings or decisions. But that was easier said than done, because just down the road from New Bark Town was the city Lucas had grown up in, Cherrygrove City. The city that Lucas had lived in until shipped off to his brother, and the town where his parents were living to this day. It had been a year and a half since he last saw them, and many months since he contacted them. The last time he wrote them was when he became the Sinnoh League Champ, and the last they responded was his seventeenth birthday on his way to Hoenn. On one side he wanted to show them how much their son has grown as a person, on the other, this personal growth was as a result of direct disobedience to their request, after a long string of disobedience that among other things got him put in juvenile hall twice. He had gone on his Journey with his brother's blessing, but not his mother and father's. He missed and loved his parents, but often and violently disagreed with them. Their reaction to him terrified him beyond almost anything else. There were other factors as well, consequences he may face just by setting foot in the city.

Lucas tried to stall by training and capturing Pokemon. He had caught a Pidgey and a Sentret, but when the Hoothoot and Spinarak started coming out, he knew he had put off the inevitable long enough. Even shuffling one's feet, the journey from New Bark Town to Cherrygrove was only half an hour, yet Lucas managed to stay on the route until sundown. Plus, there was a suspicious shuffling in the tall grass, and the looming feeling he was being watched.

Cherrygrove City was a medium sized and very modern city. Before Lucas' time it was home to a Gym, belonging to the father of his rival and fellow Cherrygrove native Morgan, but now it was happy simply being a bustling suburb. It had all the necessary shops, an arcade and a small beach that was too small for tourists but managed to occupy the locals. Some stores had closed, others had opened, but it was still mostly the same as Lucas had left it. He even noticed a neon green tag of Lucas' former gang painted on a trashcan. His home—at least, his former home—was located south of town, close to the Pokemart and a grocery store, but not so close to the center of town to be hear any major noise from the late night clubs and bars. He used to hate the town, considering it dull and shallow, like the people he used to go to high school with, much preferring to either hang out with his gang or in the grass to watch the Pokemon that lived nearby. He could not claim he was happy to be back, but some part of him did miss the familiarity, and was surprised to feel a gnawing homesickness that had plagued him for months seem to vanish.

Muscle memory carried him to his house. The same road and route he used when he would come home from school, or more accurately, when he came back from ditching school. The same shrubs, the same paint on the door, the same crystal wind chime that his mother hung near the doorbell. For a moment it felt like the last year and a half vanished, and everything was as it was before.

But he knew it wasn't. Things had changed, he had changed. And he had no doubt his parents' lives did not press pause simply because he wasn't around. He reached into the vest pocket nearest his pants and pulled out a set of keys. Part of him wondered if they would still work, or if his parents changed the locks. Fear kept him from trying. It was not a mystery he wanted answered. Instead, he stood in front of the door debating how he should enter. The doorbell felt too formal. Barging in felt too intrusive. So the teen settled on knocking on the door. In the split second that there was no answer Lucas was tempted to bolt, to simply stay at the Pokemon Center and not see his family at all. But before he could react on his intrusive impulse, he heard the chain unlatch and the door unlock.

"Who is it-" the woman who answered the door choked on her sentence when she saw who stood on her doorstep. Like Lucas, she had warm brown eyes and wasn't very tall. Her hair was a dark brown, the same color that the teen had under the black and red dye, the true color visible in between the piercings on his eyebrows.

"Mom, it's me," Lucas said tentatively. His mother's face was unreadable, and that filled Lucas with terror. Was she unhappy to see him? The moment stretched for an eternity. Neither moving as his mother froze behind the half open door, while he remained motionless on the 'welcome' mat. Lucas then got his answer. The woman threw open the door and rushed the boy. She wrapped her arms around her youngest son and held him tighter than he ever remembered her doing. Was she always this tiny? Or had he grown more while on the road? Instinct made him bury his own head into her shoulder and wrapped her just as tightly. For that one brief moment all their problems and their arguments, all the fights and the punishments and seeing her cry when the bailiff dragged him into custody melted away and it was just a boy and his mother sharing the affection of family.

"Mei, who is it?" the spell was broken by the sound of a second voice, Lucas' father. He came to the door to see what had become of his wife and wore the same difficult to decipher expression. His father looked more like John, tall and muscular. He and Lucas shared the same wide jaw and ear shape, and unfortunately, the same stubborn streak. His wife and his son waited for his reaction, neither sure what he would do upon seeing his delinquent son at his door. Once again time slowed until he spoke again, "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No. I haven't had anything since I got off the boat in Olivine," Lucas responded cautiously.

"We could have picked you up,"

"I had business in New Bark Town first,"

"It's meatloaf and greens. Hurry up, it's getting cold," his father stepped back inside and moved to give Lucas passage into the house. The teen looked around like he had never been inside before, absorbing and processing each detail. The furnishings remained the same and on a shelf by the kitchen door were his mother's knickknacks, as he scanned the shelves he noticed among them was the crystal bell Lucas had bought in Hearthome City. The more he looked around the more new changes he discovered. Over the mantle was the same shrine to John that had always been there: his school awards and sports trophies, framed photos and clippings from magazines of his Pokemon successes. But in a curio cabinet next to the fireplace he spotted the photo taken during his Sinnoh League victory. He had sent the photo with the bell, but in addition to it were dozens of other photos Lucas had not given his family. Articles about his involvement in stopping Team Cosmic, a cardboard standee advertising the Pokevice he had endorsed, photos from fan magazines of his most important battles. Subconsciously he walked over and picked up one of the frames, mind reeling in disbelief. Though his accomplishments in his life before becoming a Trainer were few and far between, they had never been on display in the living room, let alone in proximity to the showcase of their older son. He looked back to his parents in stunned silence, his father still gesturing for him to come and sit down in the kitchen. Only with a small encouraging 'vii' from the Eevee on his shoulder got the teen to start walking.

He sat at the table and his mother placed a plate in front of him. His parents were in the middle of their meal when he had interrupted, and resumed eating what was already served. Lucas started piling food on his plate when a thought occurred to him, "Would—would it be alright if I set a plate for my Pokemon as well?"

"Oh, that's your Eevee Gizmo, isn't it? I read about it in the paper. I don't see a problem with that," his mother replied amiably. Then they returned to their meal. Lucas got a smaller plate, automatically knowing where the utensils and serving ware were even after all this time, and spooned some potatoes and a slab of seasoned meatloaf for his Pokemon. The experience was entirely alien. His parents said nothing—they rarely talked during meals—but they acted as though this was a nightly event. Their younger son sitting with them at the table, his Pokemon eating by his side and life went on.

But this wasn't normal. Not nearly. He hadn't seen them in a year and a half. He went training without their knowledge or permission. A million and one thoughts and questions all threatened to escape the boy's mouth, but he didn't know where to start first. He ate in silence with the rest of them, only Gizmo turning periodically to his Trainer, sensing something was off and worrying. When his father was almost finished, he finally broke the silence, "The charges got dropped,"

"What?" Lucas snapped his head up.

"The charges, the ones about you attacking the boy. They're dropped. If you don't do anything else while you're in town, you don't have to worry about getting arrested," his father continued.

"After this much time the case would have been dismissed anyway, but the boy actually withdrew the complaint," his mother added, "And I have more wonderful news. The principal is revoking the expulsion, you can go back to the school. I mean, after you're finished Training, of course. The principal is considering this current time your Trainer's leave. You can go back and pick up right where you left off anytime you want,"

"Miss Kotobukiya at the grocery store said you're on the cover of the newest Pokemon Friend magazine, that there is a feature article on you about your latest Championship. I wish I could have seen it. I guess you're here getting your next Championship, too," Lucas looked at his parents in shock. The scene in front of him and the information he was hearing was so strange he felt like he was having an out of body experience, "Have you heard from John recently?"

Finally a chance for his brain to work again. A nice, digestible question, "Uh, yeah. About a month or so ago, just after my seventh Gym win in Hoenn,"

"We hear from him every week. He's been telling us all about your successes. We're so proud of you," his mother gushed.

Proud.

Of him.

Lucas could barely comprehend the words. In his entire life he could not recall any time his parents had said they were proud of him. He had always gotten along better with his mother than his father. Even during his worst days Lucas and his mom could spend time bonding. She'd take him shopping in Goldenrod and even when he was forced on the boat she had given him a wad of bills for emergencies, but even as much as his mother valued their relationship together, there was no question which son she thought was better. His father made no mystery of his preference for John, even at a young age. Lucas was too uncoordinated and easily shaken to be a good athlete or test well. His father's praise of his older son was part of what instilled John's sense of overbearing ego. While his mother never heaped on the odes to her firstborn, she was the one who chanted 'why can't you be more like your brother?' like a demoralizing mantra.

It was all he ever wanted to hear his entire life. But the next words out of his father's mouth made his blood run cold, "I wish you would have let us know you were on your way here, but I'm glad you stopped by. I knew sending you to John would finally straighten you out. It's about time you let your brother influence you and get you interested in Pokemon. We know you can't be John, but at least with this you can be a contributing member of society. Not just anyone can boast that they're the father of not just one Pokemon League Champion, but two! It's great to finally hear the neighbors say nice things about you instead of telling me what stupid thing you did this time,"

The fork clattered out of Lucas' shocked hands, "John get _me_ interested in _Pokemon_? Are you goddamned kidding me?! I always liked Pokemon! I was the one who wanted to be the Trainer, not him! You shipping me off would have been the worst thing that ever happened to me if I didn't defy you, yet again. These changes? These ones that you're so proud of? That's because of _me_. Because _I _decided to Train. All John did was not stop me when I walked out his door. And believe you me, if he tried it wouldn't have worked. This is not yet another thing John did right,"

His father opened his mouth to argue but his mother interjected with her calming tone, "Lucas, we know things never came as easy to you as they did John. We only tell you to be more like your brother because we want you to do better! Be better. And now you are! I wish things could have been different, that we didn't have to resort to shipping you off, but you didn't give us a choice. You were out of control. It was the only thing we could think of besides letting you go to jail again. The first two times broke my heart. I don't think I could have survived a third. And I missed you every day that you were gone,"

"John is so good at sports! John is so good at school! John has so many friends! I told you in my letter when I confessed to disobeying you that I will never be John! And I never want to be! I want you to be proud of me for being me! And guess what, I might not be as good as John in the things that you thought were important, but I don't have to be. It turns out there are a lot of things I'm good at that other people like!" suddenly seventeen years of pain and resentment came pouring out, while his mother and father glanced at each other helplessly, "For one, I give a shit about things other than myself. I don't care if I'm liked if it means someone weaker than me might get hurt! I don't constantly try to upstage everyone around me and I don't go out of my way to take the few things someone cares about. And one last thing. Pokemon is not the one thing that I'm _almost_ as good as John in, and therefore doesn't embarrass you. I'm a _helluva_ lot better, but it's clear you aren't ready to see that," Lucas stood up, his hands clamped in fists, fighting all temptation to turn the table over. In a controlled, clipping tone he added, "Thank you for the meal. But I think it would be better if I left for the Pokemon Center. I need to get up early tomorrow so I can head to the next town,"

His mother put her hand on top of his, "No, please. Please at least stay the night. Your family loves you and missed you. We're all full of emotion and things have gotten out of hand. Things can cool down and we can have breakfast in the morning. I still want to catch up,"

"Fine. I'll stay the night."

"You can stay in your old room. Let me just get some sheets and set up the bed," his mother hurriedly got up from the table and ran to the linen closet, Lucas picking up Gizmo and following her.

The changes to most of the house were small but negligible, but seeing his old room made his stomach sink. It had been completely redecorated. When he left, his parents had made him take all his possessions and now he understood why. Where his walls were lined with his posters, the floors scattered with his clothes and the shelves filled with his things, his former room was transformed into a generic guest room with paintings of flowers and pastel furniture. For all his mother's espousing missing her youngest son, it was clear now his parents never intended for him to come back. And the reason was clear. They thought so little of him that they assumed even John would fail at turning Lucas' life around. That he was a lost cause, and the room would have been put to better use as it was now. The Trainer was too defeated to even get angry about it anymore. He thanked his mother for the sheets, made an excuse about being tired from the road and ushered her out of the room. He made his bed in silence, his confused Eevee unable to understand his master's thoughts.

Lucas _was_ exhausted from the road, but sleep did not come easily. He stared at the ceiling at the slightly darker rectangle where a poster of Gym Leader Misty in a swimsuit once hung, taking in and processing everything that had just happened. A year and a half ago all he wanted to do was come back, resume his normal life and feel accepted by his parents. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he arrived on their doorstep. Yelling was certainly going to part of the equation, most likely. And even if their reasons were misguided their pride was real. But one thing was for certain. Even if things had gone more pleasantly he doubted he would have felt any differently than he did just now. While the realization filled him with pain, it also brought a strange sense of closure: this wasn't his home anymore. Home was the stupid mansion he got in Sinnoh where he had dumped the least useful of his possessions and his broken bike. Home was by the campfire with spicy instant noodles and his Pokemon, arguing with Morgan. Home was Skyler.

And it was time to move on, in every sense.

Mei had gotten up early the next morning to cook her family a special breakfast. She excitedly checked in on her son, overwhelmed that her youngest had not only come home, but had returned a stronger, more mature person. The kind of man she had always hoped he could be. No, things weren't perfect, and there was a lot to heal, but this was the first step to that road. Instead of spending the morning hearing the stories of his adventures and telling him over and over again how much she loved and missed him, she found the room empty except for a folded piece of paper on a pillow. She sank on the bed as she unfolded it, and felt her heart clench as she read:

"_Dear Mom and Dad,_

"_I'm sorry I didn't stay for breakfast, but after last night I realized something. I promised I wouldn't come home until I could make you proud of me. That just being Lucas could be enough. While it's clear that you guys do love me, I still haven't reached that goal. Right now you're only proud because it seemed I became more like John, not because you're actually proud of what I've accomplished._

"_I started this journey and challenged John to earn my way back into your lives, but a long time ago I realized that I needed to do this for myself and not anyone else. Not even you guys. I will always love you and you will always be my family, but my place is no longer here._

"_Until someday we meet again, your other son,_

"_Lucas"_


	4. Chapter 4 Reckoning

Chapter Four: Reckoning

For all the years Lucas had lived in Cherrygrove, and as intimately as he knew the city, he could not recall ever seeing it this early in the morning. When he was a resident, he kept late nights and slept in as late as his mother would let him. But after all these months as a Pokemon Trainer he had grown accustomed to being an early riser, and he had to leave his house as soon as possible.

After a year and a half, Lucas had returned to see his parents. When he left it wasn't on good terms, and his becoming a Trainer had happened without their permission. He expected and feared a lot of things: anger, disappointment, but somehow what had happened was even worse. The teen had returned to praise, and a pride in him he had craved since he was a small child. But that pride turned out to be a mixed blessing. While his parents were proud their son had transformed from a trouble-making delinquent destined for a life of crime to a high ranked Trainer, they put the responsibility for the change not on Lucas, but on his brother and their decision to send him there. Lying in the bedroom that was clearly no longer his, the teen realized that while his parents loved him, it was unlikely in their eyes that he could ever escape his older brother's legacy. Knowing this, recommitted to his mission, to outshine John in battle not for his brother, his parents or his community's sake, but for himself and his love of Pokemon, and left their house for what had become his true home: the road and his Journey.

As Lucas walked across town to the Pokemon Center to get his team checked out before leaving for Violet City, he cut across a local park and heard a voice call to him, "What the hell do you think you're doing in my turf, asshole?"

The teen turned to see a boy a few years older than him standing with a group of intimidating kids all glaring at him. Their leader was tall, lean and had the same kind of fighter's muscles Lucas had. He wore a black t-shirt with a logo of a heavy metal band, camo printed pants with lots of chains, black leather armlets on his wrists, and had neon blue hair with a matching goatee. Upon seeing him, Lucas rose his middle finger to the boy and sneered, "Whatever the f*$# I want to, shithead,"

The boy responded with a twisted smile and rushed the teen with a raised fist. Lucas caught the fist in his hand and twisted the boy's arm behind his back. As Lucas had the teen in place, his attacker remarked, "Not bad,"

"You're getting slow in your old age, Ajax," Lucas released his attacker and the two embraced like brothers, laughing and clapping each other on the shoulder. The rest of the teens who had stayed behind started whooping and screaming, and rushed to pat the punk on his arms and back.

"Holy shit Lucas, it has been _for-effing-ever_ since I last saw you. When did you get back?"

"Dude, literally yesterday. Boat didn't get into Olivine until after noon,"

"And you didn't come see us first?"

"Had some business I had to take care of, then saw the parental units,"

"How did that go?"

"Ugh. Don't ask," Lucas rolled his eyes and walked his old gang to the old, broken-down playground where they always used to hang out and the gutted utility shed that was their base. After the harsh encounter with his real family, seeing his second family, his old gang, filled the teen with a sense of welcome and acceptance he had sorely missed. When he lived in Cherrygrove, this group of kids, regardless of what the rest of society had felt about them, were the only people who treated Lucas like a person, like he had worth. It was the only time he felt that way until he became a Trainer, "You guys are up early,"

The gang's leader laughed and lit up a joint from his pocket, "Not up early, out late. We're just getting back,"

"So what all has happened around here since I was exiled?"

Ajax passed the joint to one of the other kids, sat on a concrete barrier that separated the grass of the park from the gravel of the playground and leaned back on his hands, "You know the principal's daughter? Got knocked up by the captain of the soccer team,"

"Ha! Figured that would have happened sooner or later. Explains why the principal's suddenly willing to have me back, now. Of course, back then he didn't believe me when I said _she_ jumped _my_ bones instead of the other way round," Lucas smirked. The principal of his high school had made Lucas his number one enemy when the official had caught the teen and his daughter making out in his office.

"Yeah, you always had that 'I'm big enough a badass to take on a guy twice my size, but you being hot makes me all weak at the knees' routine. Was a major panty-dropper as I recall," Ajax punched Lucas in the arm and then poked at Gizmo's Pokeball on Lucas' necklace, "But anything around here is small fry compared to you, son. You're the thing everybody's been talking about. Local boy does good. Suddenly all those fakes that tried to push us around are acting like you was their best friend,"

Lucas shook his head in amusement, "That doesn't surprise me either. But yeah, things are good. I'm just passing through for now because I'm taking Johto on next. Then you can be major badasses when I'm three-League Champ and you knew me way-back-when," the teen looked around at his gang. There were a few new kids he didn't know who looked at him in awe, but he could also see some old friends were missing, "Where's Eva, Shorty and Brick?"

"Brick's doing time," one of the new girls said.

"Damn, got busted again? He's done more Juvey than I have," Lucas replied.

Ajax shook his head, "Nah, son. Brick's eighteen now. Got put away for real this time. Really stupid too. Shoplifting,"

"That effing sucks. But what about Eva and Shorty? They get shipped off somewhere too?"

"Shorty ODed. One of the other gangs started dealing in hard stuff and he got hooked. We tried to tell him the bad shit screws you over, but you knew Shorty. Good heart, short on brains. When he died we took on the crew that sold it to him. Would have gone better with you here, but we did enough damage to send a message. Cops actually did something useful for a change instead of hassle us, too," Ajax explained. Lucas' heart sank but he was not shocked. When he joined the gang at thirteen he knew many kids in his own group as well as outsiders who passed: killed in fights, drugs and alcohol and even suicide, "Eva's good though. Took after you and went Training. Last I hear she was talking about going back to classes and maybe be a lawyer or something,"

"Hey, then you'll have someone to get your ass out of the sling next time the cops get bored," Lucas joked. Eva had never really fit in with the gang as much as the others had. She was bullied, and abused at home, but her temperament was gentle. While the others were fighting she was usually the lookout and later the nurse, popping shoulders back into place and cleaning split lips. Lucas had dated her briefly, and hearing that her life had improved because of his inspiration was a piece of good news he needed.

Ajax smiled again, but this time there was a darker tone to his mood, "No need, brother. I haven't had a chance to tell you our big news yet. Don't tell me you didn't notice when you were traveling through,"

Lucas cocked his head and played with the rings in his lips. After a moment he figured out the answer, "Our tag is the only one I saw. Haven't seen any other crews' marks,"

"Good reason for that. Our tag's the only one, because we're the only gang here,"

"How'd that happen? Was there a brawl or something?"

"Didn't need to. We have friends in high places now. Not even the cops mess with us anymore," Lucas had known Ajax a long time. He had brought Lucas into the gang when he was thirteen years old, and had been more of a big brother than John ever was. He had protected him, taught him how to survive and as Lucas had grown stronger and fiercer, had become Ajax's right hand man. Even after all this time apart he knew the leader better than anyone else. And the tone and implication were filling the teen with a sense of dread he couldn't understand.

"What are you talking about, dude,"

"Marcia came back into town about a year ago. Calls herself Rose now. But she gave us an offer we couldn't refuse. We're gonna be Cosmic, Big Brother. Nobody messes with them," Hideo, a boy Lucas knew only briefly before getting sent away blurted excitedly.

"What?"

"Right now we're waiting on orders because Cosmic is building up slow in Johto, but pretty soon we're gonna have uniforms and everything. First Cherrygrove, then the world," Ajax stood up and puffed his chest with pride. He removed one of his armlets and showed the tattoo on his wrist, a shield of blue and lavender with three yellow stars arranged to resemble the letter 'C'. Ajax and the other kids kept talking excitedly about what being part of the group would mean for them, but Lucas stopped listening.

Over the years one of the biggest threats to the Pokemon World were evil organizations that used Pokemon to overpower and inflict their will upon the regions, but Team Cosmic was the worst. Lucas had first encountered them on his travels through Sinnoh, and after their first meeting Lucas devoted part of his life to see them go down. Highly organized, ruthless and adaptable, they were a paramilitary group with an insidious agenda: to destroy what they perceived to be weak Pokemon and people and enslave the rest.

"Dude, please telling me you're screwing with me," Lucas interrupted the excited chatter. He grabbed Ajax's arm and looked into his ex-leader's eyes, "That that's just a stick-on and this is just a sick joke to eff with me because I've been gone so long. Tell me this is the part where all of you are going to start laughing at how freaked out you made me and go, 'oh you should see the look on your face'. I need you to tell me that, Ajax. Tell me that right now, bro and I'll start laughing, too,"

The blue haired teen frowned in confusion, "Nah dude, we're totally serious. Cosmic is gonna change our lives. All these assholes that have spit on us are really gonna pay for what they've done and we'll be on top for a change. We're already starting to. I told you, no one messes with us anymore, not even the cops unless we do something really stupid,"

"Do you even know what Cosmic is? What they stand for?" Lucas could not believe what he was hearing. It was like he was living a nightmare.

"Yeah, they're all about strength, and so are we,"

"No! They aren't about strength! They're about murdering weakness. They want to kill all people and Pokemon they consider inferior! And you let goddamned _Marcia_ of all people recruit you? Don't you remember what that hag did to us? How she was screwing the leader of the Hatchets behind my back and how they jumped us? How you ended up in the hospital for three weeks because they messed up your kidney? And why Brick got that scar on his face? She betrayed us! Me!"

"Of course I didn't forget. I just about choked her when she first came up to me, but this was her way of making it up to us. Her amends for what she did. She screwed up and now she's taking care of us. _She_ remembered her family when she made it big. Unlike _some_ people." Ajax pulled his arm out of Lucas' grip and shoved him in the chest.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"We know you got screwed when your 'rents threw you to John, but it's been a year and a half. A year and a half when you were out making yourself a big man at Pokemon and making sure nobody messed with you ever again. And in all that time you never came back to check on any of your brothers and sisters. You didn't write, you didn't call, you didn't visit. Just out getting rich and famous. You'll always be one of us, little brother and I _am_ happy to see you, but don't think for one f*&^ing second that _you_ have the right to tell _me_ what I should or shouldn't be doing. _I'm_ still the leader here, and just because you think you're better than us now doesn't change that. All we want is the same chance you got. To get to be big man and get on top, and the best way to do that is with Pokemon, and Cosmic is going to do that for us!"

"_Stolen_ Pokemon,"

"So what? Oh, so it's okay for you to use you strength to push around people who try to disrespect you, but we can't just because of the System's bullshit rules? That you're part of it now so it makes everything that ever happened to us all right?"

"It's not that! Pokemon aren't things. It's not like shoplifting a pair of shoes or busting a window. They think and feel and bond with their Trainers. When you're using a stolen Pokemon you're basically holding it hostage and keeping it away from the person it loves," Lucas pleaded, "Ajax, I know you never cared about Pokemon that much before, but you always had my back when I asked you to help the local ones around here from assholes who would try to hurt them. You always saw how much they meant to me. And we never, ever messed with folks more then just scaring them. Unlike the other gangs around here we never mugged families or old people or messed with little kids. If you can honestly say that you can do this stuff now, make no mistake, that will be what you're doing now that you're Cosmic's _lapdogs_, then you're not the same guy that I looked up since I was thirteen!" Ajax got gravely serious. He stood with his legs apart and his fists clenched while the other kids from the gang got into position. Lucas recognized the pose, Ajax was about to lead a beatdown. The Trainer stood his ground, and looked at the other boy sadly, remembering all the times Ajax had helped him and protected him in the past, "Has it really come to this?"

"I ain't _nobody's_ lapdog, son. And I don't take that kind of disrespect from anyone, not even you. You're still blood so I won't beat your ass, but I will take that pussy little Pokemon of yours to teach you a lesson," Ajax lunged at Lucas, hand outstretched to try to snatch Gizmo off of the Trainer's shoulder. Lucas sank back into old instincts he had largely left behind. Once more he caught Ajax's arm before his former leader could touch him and threw the older boy over his shoulder. The blue-haired teen landed on the ground with a heavy thud while the rest of the gang watched in stunned amazement. Not letting go of the arm, Lucas twisted it violently and kicked under Ajax's armpit with his steel-toed boot. There was a sickening, audible pop as the leader screamed a sputtering yelp of pain, half winded from the throw. Lucas let go after this, and Ajax desperately scrambled away, a small cloud of dust kicked up in the gravel as he fled back to where his gang was waiting. Lucas stood planted, waiting to see what the gang would do next. Ajax stood up, clutching his arm, "You've changed Lucas! And you dislocated my goddamned arm!"

The teen smiled sadly, "You're right. A year ago I would have f*&^ing broken it. You're wrong about one thing, though. I never stopped caring or thinking about you guys, and I never thought I was better than you, until now. So I'm leaving you with this gift: a warning. You still have time to change your minds and get out of Cosmic. Because if I ever see any of you in Cosmic uniforms, I won't hold back,"

With that Lucas turned to leave, his heart tight in his chest, knowing that he lost forever the last connection he had with Cherrygrove City. While many of the things he did with his gang weren't right, things he looked on now with shame, he had never thought of himself or any of the kids as the bad guys. But with them joining his sworn enemy, everything had changed. His true friends, his _real_ family, the young man he came to think of as his older brother would never again be a part of his life. This chapter was truly over. The other members of his former gang looked to their leader, still overcome with pain, waiting for the signal to jump the perceived traitor who had attacked him. Ajax waved them to stand down, giving his once most loyal member the opportunity to leave in peace. They both knew where they both stood, and both knew Lucas would never return to Cherrygrove City ever again.


	5. Chapter 5 Old Soldier

Chapter Five: Old Soldier

When Lucas was sent to live with his brother in Sinnoh, all he wanted to do was go home. Even when he became a Trainer his primary goal was to earn back his family's acceptance by showing he was just as worthy as his older brother John. He dreamed of returning to Cherrygrove City, and dealt with the homesickness that helped fuel his drive to become a four-league Champion and defeat his brother. Now in Johto, he thought he would return home: to his community, his parents and his old friends, and even if he couldn't stay he would be reminded of what he was fighting for. But that was not what he got.

His parents were happy to see him and proud of his successes, but still viewed them as insignificant compared to John. He discovered the gang who had comforted and accepted him during all his problems had joined his most hated enemy: the evil Pokemon organization Team Cosmic. The old saying was true, you can't ever really go home again. Lucas was no longer truly a part of the community he had grown up in, and he no longer had any reason to ever return to Cherrygrove City.

Instead, he treated this town so full of memories as any other stop on his Journey. He healed his Pokemon and arranged his team, restocked his supplies and continued back on the road. The teen refused to let anything that happened change his resolve, long ago determining that his goal was for himself and not to impress anyone else, but it still hurt that he wasn't able to find at least one person he was happy to see after so long away.

Just north of Cherrygrove was Route 30, the path that lead to Johto's first Gym in Violet City. Lucas had known the route as well as any in Johto, since it was the one he walked almost every day after school. Before John had become a Trainer and Lucas had given up on his one passion, he was enrolled in the Pokemon School that was located in the city in the north. While Pokemon were a part of society and the economy in the Pokemon Regions, there was a standard school system that children were expected to attend. After receiving a Trainer's License at age ten, kids could use Trainer's Leave, a set amount of days off to leave school and try their hand at Pokemon Training. Only the best would become professional Pokemon Trainers, and most people returned to more conventional paths after a few months or a year on the road, picking up where they left off. But to help pass the licensing test, many children enrolled in lessons at Pokemon School, with Johto's being located in Violet City. After regular classes, Lucas would travel a half hour out of his way, spend an extra hour learning all the ins and outs of becoming a Pokemon Trainer with the promise of a license and a starter Pokemon as his reward. But when John became a Trainer himself, Lucas dropped out.

As Lucas recalled, the furthest right path going north was the main road for non-Trainers, avoiding the tall grasses were wild Pokemon flocked and local Trainers that stood around hoping to find an opponent to challenge. As a boy, he always took this side f the road, but now a two-league Champion, today he would take the left path. As he walked his Pokevice rang again, the third time that morning. He didn't need to look at the screen to know who was calling. It was his mother. He wasn't ready to speak to her yet after their bleak dinner the evening before, and once again hit 'ignore'. With the Pokemon Device already out Lucas saw one person he did want to contact, though he was still far away. He hoped he wasn't calling too early.

"Hello? Lucas, is that you?" Skyler sounded groggy but not completely asleep, meaning Lucas didn't wake him. It had only been a few weeks since they parted in Hoenn, but for Lucas it felt like an eternity, and hearing his boyfriend's voice made some of the frustration from the past twenty-four hours lessen.

"Yeah, it's me. It's so good to hear from you. I've missed you so much I thought I'd go crazy," Lucas replied. As he spoke on the Pokevice, the teen Trainer started passing through a patch of tall grass, "I'm in Johto now, heading to Violet City,"

"So you don't have any badges yet?"

"No, unfortunately still seven away from seeing you. But knowing you're in Blackthorn is definitely going to motivate me to get there as soon as I can. How are you doing?"

"Can't complain too much. My grandfather and the rest of the Clan's counsel isn't exactly happy with my little escapade, but Lance has been in my corner so I didn't get into as much trouble as I could have. Otherwise things have been as they always were. I'm helping at the Gym and my aunt's bath house. How have things been for you? Did you see your parents while you were in town?" Skyler listened sympathetically as Lucas told him everything that had happened. They talked even as Lucas was challenged by the local Pokemon.

Aside from Gizmo and his new starter Barbarella, Lucas had on his team the Pidgey he had captured yesterday, and a Manetric, Minun and Plusle he had captured in Hoenn. He knew the upcoming Gym focused on flying type Pokemon, and he wouldn't have an opportunity to catch any more electric types until his got closer to Union Cave south of Violet City. As he talked with Skyler, Lucas also battled more local specimens and took advantage of his early day to capture the morning-only Pokemon Ledyba. As he moved through the thick foliage to approach his first destination, Lucas once more had the strange feeling of being watched, like he had on Route 27 just outside of Cherrygrove. "Sorry Skyler, I have to go. Something is up, I think,"

"Be careful. And see you soon,"

"It won't be soon enough. And I will," Lucas hung up the Pokevice and put it back in his pocket. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck, short as it was, rise as his instinct told him he had been followed. He listened carefully, wondering if one of the kids from the gang had disobeyed Ajax and was attempting to seek vengeance on the tattooed boy. He dismissed the thought quickly. Aside from himself, no one would dare disobey Ajax, and he had the feeling that this presence was the same one that bothered him before he even saw his gang again. Plus Gizmo had a cautious alertness he normally didn't get around humans. A rustling caused the teen to pivot to face the noise when from under a bush a Raticate came out. Raticate were astounding rare around Cherrygrove. While Rattata were plentiful, typically if one evolved it moved on to new territory where it could get enough food to satisfy its higher metabolism. Additionally, there was something unusual about the Pokemon that Lucas couldn't quite identify.

The Pokemon seemed old, with graying whiskers and a dullness to its coat. It was clearly a veteran fighter, with a bent to its tail that suggested it once had been broken, and a chunk torn out of its left ear. It must have lived around Cherrygrove for years. What struck Lucas as most unusual, however, was that while the Raticate had confronted the Trainer, it wasn't attacking. Raticate could be vicious, their teeth leaving nasty bites on human and Pokemon alike. They could be terribly aggressive and destructive, and to have this Pokemon simply sit in front of the Trainer was unheard of. Something about the way the Raticate looked at him was familiar, and hit a memory in Lucas from a very long time ago.

"No...it couldn't be..." When Lucas was a small boy, before his dreams were crushed, and even sometimes after, he would go outside of town to watch the local Pokemon. He remembered standing with the pitiful, much-loved Snorlax plushie he dragged everywhere as Caterpie and Pidgey would skitter to and fro, largely ignoring him as they lived their lives. One day, he was approached by a Rattata that seemed more daring than the more apprehensive rat-like creatures. He gave the Pokemon a cookie, it would snatch it, run a few steps away, eat it, and then dart back into the grass. It became a daily ritual as Lucas would wait for the Rattata, give it some food and watch it eat. As this happened more and more often, the Pokemon would get closer and closer, occasionally letting the child pat the creature's head. Then one day, the Rattata vanished. Lucas would call for it, cookie in hand, Lumpy the Snorlax clutched in the other, but the Pokemon never returned. He assumed it was captured or simply moved on, but was sad to see it go. He hadn't thought about the Rattata in years, but, somehow...

Lucas reached into his bag and pulled a bag of cookies he bought before leaving the city. It was the same kind he always had, his favorite Johto brand, even as a kid. The cookie seemed small for his hand now, he carefully held it by the edge and offered it to the Raticate. The Pokemon sniffed the air and walked over, grabbing the cookie, darting a few steps away and holding it in its paws to eat. Lucas made a daring move, knowing if he was wrong he would risk a nasty bite, and touched the Raticate on the head. The Pokemon looked up from the treat, sniffed the air again and went back to its food, "It is. It is you!"

The Trainer quickly patted at his vest, looking for a Pokeball before the Pokemon would finish eating and probably dart back into the grass. He didn't need to hurry. When the Raticate finished the cookie, it didn't move, instead looking Lucas over again, observing the Eevee on his shoulder. The teen finally found what he was looking for, and pulled a ball off of his belt in case the Pokemon challenged him to battle. The Raticate remained placid, as though this was something it was waiting for, for years. Lucas put his Pokemon away, and instead offered the Pokeball out like he had so many cookies before. The Raticate snatched the ball like it had the treat, but instead of biting it, tapped the ball with its nose and was pulled inside with a red light. The Pokeball fell to the ground and rocked four times before clicking.

Lucas picked up the ball and smiled. He had finally found someone from Cherrygrove who was happy to see him and he them, and whispered the nickname he would give this Pokemon. A friend he thought he lost long ago but had remained, maybe even waiting for the day Lucas would become a Trainer, "Old Soldier,"


	6. Chapter 6 Back to School

Chapter Six: Back to School

Much had happened in the day since Lucas had returned to his home Region of Johto. He had seen Professor Elm and had gotten a new starter Pokemon, visited his parents, met up with his old gang and had caught several new Pokemon, including a Raticate the teen had once known as a child. He had left Cherrygrove City, once his home, behind with a flood of mixed feelings and was now on the road to his first Gym Badge in Violet City. The road between cities was short and would normally not take long, but in addition to catching new Pokemon, Lucas was also slowed by the challenge of other Trainers.

Pokemon Battles were both wanted and needed for Pokemon Trainers. Not only was facing other humans the best way to Train Pokemon for combat, winners would also increase their purses, since victory also meant the loser was obligated to fork over a percentage of the money they carried. Trainers challenged each other all the time, and at first Lucas simply engaged in battle because he was a fellow Trainer. Though he gained some notoriety after his first League win, it was his Hoenn Championship that turned him into a celebrity, and now Trainers went out of their way to challenge him.

As he came up the crest of the hill where the road forked between the Dark Cave to the north and Violet City to the west, a young boy with a backwards cap rushed the teen, "Hey! Hey you're Lucas!"

Lucas nodded casually, he was starting to grow weary from the near constant battles that morning, with something about the newest boy striking him as particularly grating. The most common Trainers outside of Cherrygrove and Violet cities were young boys just starting their Journeys, known by the Trainer slang term 'Youngsters'. Young and full of bravado, they tended to be disproportionately cocky, and the one that was now rushing to Lucas seemed especially full of himself. Lucas stuck a hand in his pocket and gestured to the boy to hurry, "C'mon, c'mon, let's get this over with. I've been trying to head to Violet City since this morning but you twerps keep slowing me down. I've gotten further, faster with a twisted ankle,"

"Heh, so you're the two-League Champion that's going to face the Johto League. You don't seem so tough," The boy rubbed under his nose nonchalantly with his finger, and pulled out a Pokeball. Lucas rolled his eyes. When the teen first started Training he probably would have cursed the kid out, but with age and experience Lucas had become a lot more patient.

But that didn't mean he became a saint.

"Five bucks says his first Pokemon is a Weedle," Lucas whispered to his Eevee. Gizmo responded with a laugh-like 'vii'.

"Go Weedle!"

"Nailed it."

The boy's first Pokemon was the small, larva-like Weedle. In the right hands, a Weedle could actually be a powerful Pokemon, as the bug type knew poisoning moves early on, and quickly evolved into the incredibly fast and brutal Beedril.

Lucas could see from the kid's demeanor that these were not the right hands.

"Go Barbarella!" Professor Elm's starter Pokemon appeared before her opponent, almost as weary of the back-to-back battles as her Trainer, "Ember!"

"Tackle!"

Lucas laced his fingers behind his head as his fire type knocked out the opponent's Pokemon with a single burst of flame.

"I won't go down that easily!" the Youngster snarled as he pulled out a second Pokeball, "Go Caterpie!"

Lucas almost felt bad for the kid's Pokemon and recalled his Cyndaquil for his Pidgey, "Use Gust!"

Once more, the Youngster's Pokemon went down with one hit. But the boy was a slow learner. Blinded by rage and indignation he pulled out his final Pokeball with a flourish. Lucas at least had to give the kid points for style and sheer balls, "I saved my most powerful Pokemon for last. All my friends have said my Rattata is the most powerful they had ever seen,"

Lucas held his head in his hands with a groan. While he loved Pokemon and could talk about them all day, this kid reminded him of an older boy he had known while he was still attending Pokemon School that just would _not shut up_ about how great his Rattata was, "Old Soldier, please finish this,"

"Rattata! Tackle!"

"Old Soldier, Hyper Fang," The older, evolved Pokemon struck out against the smaller rodent with as much annoyance as his Trainer. The Rattata, almost as brash as his Trainer did his best to stand up against the Raticate, but with a squeak flopped against the ground after Old Soldier's nip, "We done now?"

"Ya know, you're a real jerk!" the Youngster scooped his fallen Pokemon and glared at the older Trainer, "And I bet you aren't even really a _real _Champion. You probably just cheated if the only Pokemon you have are Pidgeys and stuff!"

"Hey, dumbass, I have _other Pokemon_ besides this team. I have _these_ ones because I am _Training_ them. I constantly rotate my team so that I always have flexible options. I _actually_ pay attention to the battle in front of me and make my decisions based of what is _actually_ happening. You just made a bunch of stupid mistakes because you were overly confident,"

"You mean like challenging you?" the boy replied sarcastically.

"Actually, yes." Lucas explained, "You should have seen I was a much higher level Trainer than you are, and that you were too inexperienced yet to take someone like me on. Believing in yourself and your team is great, but you can't be reckless. You need to trust your Pokemon but be realistic. And then in battle you have to_ think_ before you call out attacks. You had a Weedle, but you used Tackle instead of Poison Sting. You wouldn't have beaten Barbarella, but you could have at least had a shot at poisoning her, and that would have forced me to change tactics. And you already saw I had a fire type, and you still summoned another bug type Pokemon. And there was _no way in hell _your Rattata could have beaten my Raticate, but if you at least used Quick Attack, you could have done _some _damage,"

The kid gritted his teeth, ready to bite back with another snide comment. But instead he swallowed it and blew out a sigh as he slumped his shoulders, "You're right. My Pokemon got hurt because I bit off more than I can chew. But I really do believe in them!"

"And you should. Keep training and one day maybe you can challenge someone like me and win. In the meantime, fork over your loser's fee," Lucas held out his hand.

"B-but that's all my allowance for the week!"

"Consider it payment for the lesson. Now you better scurry off to the Pokemon Center and leave me be so I can finally get to Violet City!"

With a final huff the boy dug into his pocket and pulled out a selection of bills and coins. Hardly enough to make the battle worthwhile, but at least made a point that would hopefully actually stick with the kid. The Youngster disappeared into the bushes and Lucas continued towards Violet City with a comment to his Pokemon, "Too bad they don't make Repels that work on know-it-all kids like him,"

Thankfully, that final Youngster was the last Trainer to challenge Lucas, and he had finally arrived at his destination, though a trip that in his past had taken thirty minutes ate up most of the morning. But Violet City was almost exactly how he had remembered it with the Sprout Tower being the first building to greet him on the horizon.

The Sprout Tower was a Johto legend. Folklore stated that the center of the tower was once a giant Bellsprout, and the building's gentle swaying was the result of the Pokemon's movements. In reality, the swaying was the builder's way of handling the Pokemon World's seismic activity in the form of frequent earthquakes, but people from all over came to marvel at the moving tower, helped that wild Bellsprout were common in the tower's crevices. As Lucas approached it, he saw the tower's resident Buddhist monks were getting ready for morning services, sweeping the floors and placing mats for parishioners to kneel on.

Past that were more of Violet City's buildings, all built in the same ancient style as the Sprout Tower, even if some were only a few years old. Dark wood, ceramic tile roofs and stone gates with glazed tiles announcing the family name of the residents. Farther north from the tower was a shrine across a man-made pool, and to the west were the Pokemart, the Pokemon Center and the gates to the roads that lead to Goldenrod and Ecruteak Cities. Just south of there were the Gym and the southern city gates that lead to the historic Ruins of Alph, and the route to Union Cave. This area would be Lucas' first stop after resting his team in the Pokemon Center.

Walking through the city he found himself once more swept up in bittersweet nostalgia. Lost in his thoughts about his past and the choices he made in it when a voice called out to him outside the Pokemon Center's doors. Pokemon battles in the city were rare but legal and he prepared for yet another conflict when his brain realized who it was calling his name. "Ah! It is Lucas that I see!"

Lucas found himself frozen before an eccentric man with a theatrical mustache and a kind face. A mix of excitement and shame filled the teen as he was face to face with the person who recognized him, "Earl!"

"Excellent! Remember me, you do. Your old teacher, I was hoping you would recognize!" Earl, with his boisterous enthusiasm and heavy accent was something of a local celebrity. He was the headmaster of Johto's Pokemon School, and advocate for the belief that anyone can be a Pokemon Trainer, and everyone who wants to should.

Lucas remembered how much he loved the man's lessons and how excited he was to go to Pokemon School every day.

He also remembered how disappointed Earl seemed the day Lucas quit. He never gave the man any explanation as to why he left the classes he seemed to love so much, so suddenly.

But as much as that guilt seemed to drill into Lucas' stomach, Earl's aura seemed to exude nothing but genuine happiness at seeing his former student, "Such true happiness to see you again, it is! Come! To the school to see the other students you should go!"

And in true Earl fashion, before Lucas could respond one way or the other, the man was already dragging Lucas to the Pokemon School a few doors down from the Pokemon Center.

Like the rest of Violet City, the Pokemon School was as timeless and unchanged as Lucas had remembered. As the teen was dragged down the halls, the kids in the school's classrooms, all children deciding to attend before regular school, peeked out and watched the commotion being caused by their quirky teacher and followed to the assembly hall in the back.

The kids and other teachers took their seats without being told, all knowing if Earl was having a lesson in the hall, it was going to be something important and incredibly exciting. As Lucas was being dragged to the podium on stage, he filled with panic. What was Earl going to do? Or say about the Trainer that quit? He felt like he was going to be sick.

Earl kept a vice-like grip on the teen's arm as he waved his hand to the assembled students. His excitement infectious with every step, flourish and gesture that made up the man's mannerisms, "Students! An exciting surprise I present to you today! Lucas, he is a former pupil of mine! Has moved on to great things, and him I show today to show you can too do great things like him! Two League Champion he is, and three League Champion he is trying to be!"

This was one of the scenarios Lucas was afraid would happen. Yes, Lucas was a former student of Earl's. But he was also a quitter. With time Lucas eventually learned that school was not the only way to attain knowledge, but in the Pokemon World, Trainer Lessons were still the expected path, something he discovered when butting heads with Hoenn Gym Leader and Pokemon School Teacher Roxanne. And his reasons for quitting seemed so silly now that he was older. He had already lost so much because of John's shadow, but to sacrifice even more out of spite? Or worse, cowardice.

As the hall exploded with cheers, Lucas finally managed to pull Earl to the side, "What are you doing? Why are you showing me off? I quit school, remember?"

"Remember, of course I do. But clearly lesson of mine you have forgotten! Multiple ways, there are, to same destination to get. Reasons I still don't know why you quit originally, does not matter, but still you push forward, found other way to succeed. My students, this they need to hear! Tell story, Lucas. Because! Even without my lessons, of you I am still proud!"

Lucas found himself smiling, and his nerves entirely gone. While he may not have been able to get the full approval of his parents, to know that Earl was proud of him, even after all this time and everything that happened, made him feel better. His former teacher once more nodded for encouragement, and Lucas took the podium to address the eager faces of the Violet City Pokemon School.

"It's true, I am Earl's former student, but it's also extremely important to know that I quit. I never finished the classes, and I never got my Pokemon License from the Johto League. I quit because I thought someone else took my dream, that I couldn't be a Pokemon Trainer if someone I knew was going to be better at it than I was. But that was a mistake.

"The fact is I regret having quit the school. I regret not getting my license at ten. But at the same time, doing things late, and doing them the hard way has made me realize that the path to success is not a straight one, and the turns you need to take aren't obvious. I wouldn't have been the Trainer I am today without Earl and this school. But I also wouldn't be this Trainer if I didn't quit. Some of you might become first class Trainers, maybe even Champions. Others might not get very far as Trainers, and that's okay.

"Don't let other people take your dreams away just because you aren't always sure of yourself. And don't think that because you quit or failed that means you're still not on the right path. Sometimes you have to do something the hard way before you can do it right,"

The assembly hall erupted in cheers as Lucas finished speaking. Earl took his place back on the podium, "Learn today, my students! Lucas has shown, anyone can be Trainer! No matter hard road is, with experience and lessons, success is still possible!"


	7. Chapter 7 Lucas vs Falkner

Chapter Seven: Lucas vs. Falkner

Lucas' arrival to Violet City had started with a surprise when he ran into his old teacher Earl. The teen had a lot of guilt and regrets about having quit Pokemon School as a child, but in spite of this, Earl had been proud of what the Trainer had accomplished, and had brought the boy to his school to show what a student from Violet City was capable of, even if someone had to quit first to get there.

It was a strange, but satisfying experience to confront what was one of the biggest regrets from his past and move beyond it, especially after his disastrous day in Cherrygrove City. But after talking to the students and saying goodbye to Earl, this time his teacher knowing exactly why he's leaving and with no guilt or shame, Lucas returned to the business he had originally come for, his first Johto League Gym.

Unlike his first two Leagues, he knew exactly what to expect. Sinnoh was an entirely foreign League, not knowing any of the most powerful Trainers, or what specialties the Gyms had. He had gone in blind each time. And in Hoenn, he had made an almost fatal mistake by not knowing the jump in difficulty that came with facing Gyms as a current League Champion. That would not happen here. Johto was his home. He knew each of the eight Gym Leaders by reputation, knowing each of their specialties and the tactics they preferred. And knowing that the teams he would face would be far more powerful and more difficult than what most Trainers on their Journeys would encounter and could prepare accordingly. He also knew the local Pokemon and which creatures he would be best to catch and train before facing the Gym.

Violet's Gym specialty was flying type. If not something Lucas already knew, it would be easy to guess from seeing the Gym. It was designed like an aviary. Instead of the paper lined shutters of the windows of the rest of Violet City's buildings, crisscrossed planks of wood allowed air in and the calls of the various birds out. The Gym's Leader, Falkner was a hereditary Leader, his father and grandfather before him having lead the Gym in generations past. The obvious call would be a team of all electric type Pokemon, but an advanced team from a born and bred flying type Leader would most likely account for that. As would focusing on rock or ice types.

Lucas could have very easily relied on Pokemon that had served him in the past. His Steelix, his Rotom Sparky, his Rhydon Panzer all would make short work of even the most powerful opponent. But that was not the point. Not for Lucas. For the teen Trainer his focus was having as many of the Pokemon he caught at least have some experience in battle. Otherwise what was the point of catching them all aside from research for the professors? So, Lucas organized a team of newcomers and older Pokemon who hadn't yet had a time to shine.

The one Pokemon Lucas couldn't bear to be without was Gizmo, the first Pokemon he ever got was a constant fixture on his shoulder, and to be without him was unthinkable. So Lucas traded out the Plusle and Minun he originally planned on using for his new Raticate Old Soldier, and Curly, a Snover who had saved his life in Sinnoh ages ago. To round out the team he kept the Pidgey and Electrike and went to the work of training.

Part of him wanted to face the Gym that day. The sooner he'd get seven badges, the sooner he could travel to Blackthorn City and be reunited with Skyler, but he forced himself to be patient. He was on his Championship journey for a reason, as powerful as love is, without self respect it is always incomplete.

Several days of Training outside of Violet City led Lucas to achieve what he had set out to do. In addition to capturing more Pokemon: a Bellsprout, Growlithe and Vulpix, his team was at the level he would expect would survive against the Leader and headed for the Gym.

Once again, his Pokevice rang, his mother still trying to call him, to talk to him about what had happened in his former home. But he still couldn't hear what she had to say. Not yet, and especially not now.

The calls of various birds came from the Gym as he approached and just before the building's doors stood the sign that marked the Leader: _Falkner The Elegant Master of Flying Pokemon_. In addition to the Leader text were the list of people in the past who had faced the Gym and gotten a badge. In the list were the names of his brother, John, as well the pleasant surprise of his old rival Morgan. Though he and Morgan were only three years apart and both from Cherrygrove City, they had not met each other until Lucas began his Journey in Sinnoh. It was hard to imagine the surly, snarky teen girl with loud goth clothes and heavy makeup as a wide-eyed ten year old with a starter Pokemon. It was the second time he had thought about he tenuous friend in as many days, and wondered when he'd see her again.

His focus returned to facing the Gym and opened both doors with fierce determination. His steel toed boots clacking on the wood floor sent a cacophony of flapping wings in the cages that lined the walls. And drew the attention of the junior Trainers that were just ahead.

Junior Trainers were one of the many obstacles opponents would face before earning the right to face the Gym Leader, but unlike the Leaders themselves that had advanced teams, the Trainers of the Gym, often apprentices with dreams of being Leaders one day themselves, had only whatever Pokemon they had on them to try to slow Trainers down. At this point in Lucas' career, they barely counted.

But Lucas only disrespected Trainers who disrespected him or his Pokemon, learning time and again that no opponent could be discounted for their skill, or the nobility of their characters. He had been surprised by people who in spite of their appearances turned out to be powerful opponents or generous allies who helped him simply because he was a fellow Trainer. So Lucas regarded even the weakest Trainers kindly, and gave them all the benefit of the doubt.

The first Junior Trainer was a boy in his early teens in a khaki outfit similar to a Boy Scout's uniform. Brightly colored birds clung onto the mesh of their cages to look on curiously as this first Trainer sent out his Pokemon.

His first was a Spearow, a badly tempered bird Pokemon that was a nuisance to Pokemon and people alike, attacking even non-Trainers they thought would invade their territories. They were challenging to train but could be powerful in combat. And this Spearow was. But even a powerful, tenacious Pokemon at a low level didn't last long against a strong Trainer like Lucas with his team. He had evolved his Elektrike into a Manectric and made short work of the Junior Trainer's first Pokemon.

The second Pokemon didn't fair much better.

A Pidgey entered the field of battle and left almost as quickly as Lucas switched out the electric type for his Raticate. Two common Indigo Pokemon faced each other, but the higher leveled rodent with its vicious bite ended the battle after the first move.

The second Junior Trainer was just a bit down the corridor from the first, blocking the entrance to a staircase. This Trainer was considerably older than the first, almost in his thirties. His garb was more traditional, with a kimono covering a dress shirt tucked into a pair of hakama pants. But his battle was just as short even if he was older and more experienced.

He also had a Pidgey but it lasted little longer than his fellow Junior Trainer as Lucas sent out his Quilava Barbarella, having already evolved the starter Pokemon during the accelerated training of the past few days.

Next the Trainer sent out a Pidgeotto, the evolved form of his previous creature. And Lucas replied in kind with his own Pidgeotto. Challengers for this Gym rarely had to face evolved Pokemon as Violet City was usually the first stop for Trainers just starting their Johto Journeys and the Junior Trainer struggled in spite of all his Training. Mud Slap attacks and Mirror Moves flew across the field of battle, and swirling Gust attacks rattled the cages of the birds watching the humans do battle. But Lucas was on a mission, and his Pidgeotto out leveled his opponent's.

But to the Junior Trainer's credit, he wasn't done yet and had a third and final Pokemon to throw at the Champion. A Fearow.

If Spearow were aggressive, territorial and dangerous, Fearows were ten times worse. The massive bird had a sharp beak and powerful wings, and didn't have a personality that tolerated defeat. Lucas decided to not risk injuring his team and settled for a final Pokemon that could end the battle in one shot.

"Go! Curly!" the grass and ice type Pokemon appeared before her Trainer with a cheery wave of her arms and the chirping 'wudju wudju' call that Snover made that reminded Lucas of Curly from The Three Stooges. He had caught the Pokemon outside of Snowpoint City in Sinnoh when had been caught in one of the area's common snow storms. Curly was already in the low level 40s when he had caught her, and she needed the least amount of training. Simply out-leveling the Fearow would have been enough to defeat it, but her ice attacks would end this battle in one, "Use Avalanche!"

"Wudju!" The Snover shifted from her happy-go-lucky self into a determined warrior and narrowed her eyes. She continued to wave her arms, but she did it faster and faster, with more force, until a blizzard-like cloud of snow came off of her body and coalesced into a clump and sent it flying forward. The Fearow responded with a snarling shriek, snapping its beak open and closed and trying to avoid the chilling attack, but the large bird had nowhere to run, and the snow dumped onto the Pokemon, burying it and ending the battle.

The Trainer let a frustrated breath out through his nose, but conceded to his opponent and stepped out of the way of the staircase with a respectful bow.

Being that this was the first Gym in the region, there would be no other Junior Trainers, and most likely, no other obstacles between Lucas and the Gym Leader. In the past, Lucas would have to frequently pause between Trainers to go back to the Pokemon Center to heal his team. This time it was unnecessary.

As the Trainer climbed the stairs, the cages vanished and the walls turned into the core of the aviary, only mesh separating the teen from the birds on the other side. Their habitats would put most zoos to shame, as perches and activities poked between real plants and rocks for the animals to roost. Lucas watched the birds curiously as he ascended. In the Pokemon World animals existed right along the creatures Trainers had captured, but they made themselves as scarce as possible, as it wouldn't be difficult for an animal that couldn't shoot poisonous spikes or breathe fire to end up on a Pokemon's menu.

Though they weren't Pokemon, Lucas was still surprised at how intimidating some of the birds looked. One that particularly caught the boy's attention was a bird almost taller than him with a long neck and massive yellow eyes, with powerful looking legs tipped with claws. He doubted very many Pokemon would tangle with whatever it was that paced back and forth in its habitat as Lucas climbed his way past.

"It's a cassowary," a voice called to Lucas from just beyond the top of the staircase, "They're from Australia,"

As Lucas finally made his way to the second floor, he found the voice's owner. It was a man in his late twenties with blue hair and ink-blue eyes. Like his Junior Trainer, he wore a pair of hakama with a kimono on top, the sleeves pulled back and tied so his arms were largely free. On one hand he wore a thick leather glove with a small bird with a black head, blue back and cream colored feathers on its stomach that glared at the teen Trainer with a seemingly disapproving look from its perch. Lucas continued to study the tiny creature, curious as to why such a seemingly dainty bird would need such a heavy glove, "I take it you're Falkner, the Gym Leader,"

"And I take it, you're Lucas, the man who's come to Johto to challenge our League," Falkner walked across the floor to a small perch where the tiny bird ambled its way on in a huff, the Gym Leader's straw zori making a soft sound against the wood floor. The second floor of the Gym was much more open than the first, not only the location of a large battle arena, but the wall behind the arena was completely gone, leaving a view of the blue Johto sky, with the silhouettes of flying type Pokemon off in the distance.

"I am. And I've come to challenge your Gym, and your advanced team,"

Falkner nodded and made his way to his Leader's podium, the place a Gym Leader stands when obliging an opponent. And like all other Leaders, he gave a brief speech about his specialty before the battle could begin, "The bird you saw on my arm earlier is a kestrel. I saw you glance at it fairly doubtfully, but make no mistake, in spite of its size it's a mighty predator. Real birds are the heirs to the dinosaurs, and perfectly adapted to their environment regardless of heat, cold or any other obstacle. Like them, flying type Pokemon are adaptable, varied and can overcome any obstacle. I have been the Leader of this Gym for almost a decade, having taken over from my father, and I have no intention of rolling over for anyone, two-League Champion or not! Go Pigdeot!"

"Go! Manetric!" Lucas summoned his first Pokemon against the Leader's. Even out the gate he knew it would be a tough fight, the final evolved form of Pidgey being notoriously strong, and above all, fast. "Use Thunder Fang!"

"Mud Slap!" With a swing of its wing, the Pidgeot wholloped the dog-like Pokemon in its face before the Manectric could sink its sparking teeth into its opponent. The ground type move not only did a chunk of damage, the Manectric walked away from the turn shaking its head and blinking its eyes, its vision obscured and its aim diminished.

Lucas expected something of that nature to happen, but he wasn't worried yet, "Manectric, use Spark!"

"Pideot, Roost!" With its eyes closed, the Manectric filled the arena with electric currents that popped and crackled across the entire area, even not entirely able to see where its opponent was striking the larger bird. Though the Pigdeot convulsed in pain, with its turn it recovered almost all of its health.

Lucas grimaced. He knew the bird Pokemon being able to heal itself would slow the battle down, but the match was still early and he continued to grow more and more as a Trainer. He reached into his bag and pulled out a box of vitamins, "I'll use this X Attack,"

The teen in the past had rarely used items in battle, but as he became more experienced, he started noticing his actions mattered as much as his Pokemon's. It would cost him a turn, but it seemed like a good gamble.

"Pidgeot, Mud Slap again!"

Again the electric Pokemon was hit by a super effective attack that not only whittled down its health, but worsened its accuracy. It pawed irritably at its face, trying to wipe of the dust and dirt that was compromising its vision. Lucas knew the Pokemon's aim was still better than not and took another risk he hoped would pay off, "Thunder Fang again, Manectric!"

"Pidgeot, this time use a Wing Attack!" The faster bird hit the canine first, chiseling down its already lowering health, but not quite enough to knock it out. Even through its haze, the electric Pokemon lunged forward with glowing teeth, grabbing the Pidgeot with all its strength.

The Manectric already had a high attack stat, but with Lucas' item usage, its power went to stratospheric heights. The electrical system of the Gym sparked and flickered with the sheer amount of voltage, and with one attack the Pidgeot was knocked out, this time it would have no chance to recover any of its health in this battle.

Without skipping a beat, Falkner pulled out his next Pokeball and summoned it, "Skarmory!"

_This was more like it_. Lucas thought as he reached for his own next Pokemon. Higher leveled, rarer Pokemon were a trademark of advanced Gym matches, and the teen knew to expect more than even the highest of leveled Fearows, Noctowls and Dodrios. And he was prepared, "Go, Barbarella!"

The larger, sleeker and more predatory evolved form of Cyndaquil paced before the armored bird and measured its opponent. While the Pidgeot had the speed advantage last round, steel types tended to be slower, but had higher defenses. Type advantage helped, but it wasn't an absolute, "Skarmory, Metal Sound!"

The bird opened its beak, spread its clattering metal wings and released a sound that made nails on a chalkboard sound like soothing elevator music. It seemed to ring through every muscle, bone and nerve in Lucas' body, and he wasn't even the victim of the Pokemon's attack. Barbarella shuddered, her pupils contracted into tiny dots as her defense was lowered. Lucas would have to respond, "Flame Wheel,"

The command shook the Quilava from her frayed nerves and she leapt into the air and starting spinning, the living flames from her back coating her entire body like armor. The Skarmory did its best to try to fly away, but the fire Pokemon simply bounced off the ground for height and crashed into her opponent.

"Takedown!" the Skarmory was certainly weakened, but this fight would not end in the first round. The Pokemon recovered from the hit, swung around and dove into creature that had hurt it the previous moment. Both Pokemon winced from the impact, the Takedown also hurting the Skarmory.

But Barbarella was hanging on by a thread. Lucas knew he had to finish it now because even at a type advantage, his Pokemon was not likely to hold on much longer, "C'mon Barbarella, Flamethrower!"

With a last rallying of strength, the Quilava opened her mouth with a snarl and spewed flames at the metallic bird. The attack managed to do what it needed to, and landed a critical hit, the Skarmory crashing to the Gym floor in a charred heap.

Falkner eyed Lucas determinedly, pulling at his final Pokeball without breaking eye contact. Lucas knew this final Pokemon would be the hardest, no Gym Leader doing anything else except saving their most powerful Pokemon for last. Many an opponent have knocked out a Leader's Pokemon with a full team only to find their entire team crushed by that last obstacle. "Go! Honchrow!"

But Lucas knew better, and would not be caught off guard. He found the final Pokemon to be a pleasant surprise. His rival Morgan also had the final evolved form of Murkrow, and knew what to expect from the flying dark type. "Okay Barbarella, nice job. Finish this Curly!"

The ice type Pokemon once more appeared with her jolly cry before quickly sobering up for the battle. Falkner gestured to his bird, "Start with Double Team!"

Again, Falkner was focusing on moves that would make it harder for Lucas' Pokemon to hit his. And it made sense. Curly was so high level that even the advanced team was below her current stats. As soon as the Christmas tree-like Pokemon landed a hit, the match would be over and the Gym Badge his. But being part grass type, it also meant that flying moves would be damaging as well. So Lucas would have to study carefully what moves and how many his opponent had that were actually flying type, "Avalanche!"

The Honchrow let out a crow-like laugh as the pile of snow that toppled the Junior Trainer's Fearow missed it by a mile. Falkner seemed just as amused, "Foul Play!"

That was going to be an issue. Foul Play attacks were more damaging against opponents with high attack stats. In this case, Lucas' own strength was going to be used against him. But at least it wasn't a flying type move, and he knew half of the bird's tricks, "Ingrain!"

Curly responded with a determined 'wudju' and sank her roots deep within the wood grain of the Gym floor. Now part of the damage from the previous attack, as well as any future attacks would be recovered. But it came at a cost. Now Curly could not be recalled from battle until she either won, or was defeated herself. "Honchrow! Wing Attack!"

There was the flying move he was worried about. But Curly was tough, "Ice Shard!"

Before the large bird could swipe the Snover with its wings, Curly summoned a giant icicle and launched it like a javelin, striking the bird right in the center of its body and sending it flying backwards. It made an irritated grating sound with its beak, but it wasn't defeated yet.

For a moment neither opponent called out an attack, both young men studying each other as to make the next best move. Falkner crossed his arms and shifted his weight on his feet as he made his decision and called out the next move first, "Roost!"

And once more, whatever damage Lucas managed to land previously was nullified. The calculated move gave Falkner back some ground, but it also meant his hand was shown. "Curly, use Avalanche again!"

"Honchrow, Wing Attack!" Once more the sinister bird Pokemon dodged the pile of snow with a barrel roll and using the momentum, struck its wings against Curly. The part grass type bowed backwards slightly, but immediately popped up, unmoved by the attack due to being Ingrained into the floor. It was damaged, but not critically. And Falkner realized that as well, "Time to switch tactics, Foul Play!"

Now Lucas made a calculated risk of his own. He knew Curly's Avalanche attacks were unlikely to land, and her Ice Shards weren't enough to knock out the Honchrow, and any damage would simply be recovered with a Roost move. Most likely, Falkner would use Foul Play over and over again until Curly was knocked out. So Lucas decided to use a powerful move, though not at a type advantage, might get the job done, "Curly, Wood Hammer!"

"Wudju!" As the Honchrow came in close with strikes of dark energy, the Snover rose her arm as far as she could stretch it, and it began to glow green with natural energy. As the bird struck, the ice Pokemon responded in kind, slamming Falkner's Pokemon with all her might. Using so much force that some of her very life energy was drained along with it.

The Gym seemed to tremor from the impact, all the birds in the building's cages and aviary habitats shrieking, crowing and cawing at being so jostled. When the humans regained their composure, the results of the final round of attacks were revealed. Curly barely stood, sheer willpower holding up the Pokemon, even her roots detached from the floor from the last attack. The Honchrow on the other hand…

...Remained perfectly still.

Lucas' risk had worked. The Gym Leader's final Pokemon was knocked out and the match was over, victory his and only moments away from receiving the first of his Johto Gym badges.

Much like his Junior Trainer, Falkner kept his rage in check and the only sign of his anger and disappointment at defeat a slight pursing of his lips. He recalled his fallen Pokemon and addressed his opponent, "It's plain to see why you managed to become a two league Champion. Though the Violet City Gym is considered the 'easiest' of Johto's Gyms because it is intended for beginners, I hope you did not find this fight too simple for your standing,"

"Not at all. I knew to expect a hell of a fight and I got one. Nothing simple about this match," Lucas responded truthfully. Falkner had no idea the lengths Lucas went to prepare for the battle.

"Good. Then I can present this to you with my head held high. This is the Zephyr Badge. And I also present to you the TM for Roost. A useful ability that can save you from defeat and stymie your opponents," Falkner walked down from his podium and reached into his kimono to present the sparkling badge to Lucas. The teen accepted the badge with a handshake, "This is the first badge of the Johto League. Just as you believed it was not easy to get this first badge, I know my compatriot Gym Leaders across this region will present you with even more challenge,"

Lucas nodded solemnly. Even without Falkner having said it, he would know this to be true, but now the path was formally set, and regardless of the challenge, Lucas was more than ready to face it.


	8. Chapter 8 We Who Have Remained Here

Chapter Eight: We Who Have Remained Here

Lucas' business in Violet City was over. He had made peace with his old teacher Earl, and he now walked out of the Violet City Gym with his first Johto badge. After an overnight visit to the Pokemon Center to heal his hardworking team and a trip to the Pokemart to restock supplies, he could leave. Like all his other League badges, the pale blue Zephyr Badge glittered in the sunlight, and with a satisfied look, he pinned it inside his vest. Later he would get a badge case to keep the item from getting lost or scratched up, but for now he took the opportunity to compare it against the two other badge cases he had already filled.

The Zephyr Badge marked his nineteenth Pokemon League badge, including the two sets of Gym Badges and the larger, more elaborate Champion badges. And once more he thought about the fact that if his life had gone the way he originally planned, the way he wanted at age ten to have started his Journey then, the Zephyr Badge would only be his first. Gizmo gave a chirp of encouragement and Lucas took care of his business.

The next obstacle was to figure out where to go after Violet City. Near the Gym and the Pokemon Center to the city's west was a gatehouse that lead to a road that forked between Goldenrod to the south and Ecruteak to the north. He had been to both cities many times, often accompanying his mother on shopping trips and other errands. Both cities also had Gyms, and at his level, Lucas could have challenged either Gym in any order he wanted. But that would mean skipping Azalea Town.

Azalea was a small crafting village to the south of Violet City. It was popular with tourists, as it was home to many artisans who still used ancient techniques to create wares, and was home to a Pokemon League Gym. Beyond these two sets of people, it was rarely visited, being out of the way and past a forest on one side, and cave system on the other. But skipping it would mean having to backtrack to the village at some point. And after all the going back and forth on the roads of Hoenn, Lucas decided to take the more direct route.

Taking the southern route from Violet City had an additional benefit. It meant Lucas would be able to stop by the Ruins of Alph. The ruins were an archaeological dig as well as a popular tourist area. The remnants of an ancient and unknown civilization, the ruins' most defining feature were the glyphs chiseled into all the walls and almost every other flat surface, sigils that all looked like the psychic type Pokemon, the Unown.

Unown were strange Pokemon on their own. In addition to the fact that there were twenty-eight different kind, all looking like letters of the Roman alphabet, the Pokemon could only learn one attack: Hidden Power. The relationship between these Pokemon that make the ruins home, and the civilization that seemingly either spawned them, or drew inspiration from them was constantly studied at the ruins.

Lucas had once been to the ruins as a child for a field trip, but that had been years ago, and long before he had become a Pokemon Trainer. He decided now was a good time to see them again.

The path to ruins forked just to the side of the southern gatehouse, and was clearly marked with helpful signs. Since it was no longer summer and most kids were now in school and vacationing less popular, the stream of tourists was relatively low. A perfect time to investigate and explore without having to deal with crowds.

The landscape in Johto tended to weave between forested areas and rocky hills, and the ruins were no exception as Lucas walked the winding path to the site, he alternated between crunching fallen pine needles and chipped gravel. After walking for a little over five minutes, a rock formation marked the entrance to the dig, where just beyond it was the information house and lab where tourists could watch the researchers work while waiting for a free tour guide to take them through the stony ruins. Tours were of course optional, as Trainers such as Lucas could bypass them entirely and simply head straight inside. In the grassy areas just outside the buildings, he could look for the curious psychic and flying type Pokemon Natu, or search more diligently for the rarer and even odder Smeargle. The teen chose to hold off for now, heading straight for the ruins themselves.

The main buildings of the Ruins of Alph were colossal and very well preserved. The ancient civilization that predated Lucas' Japanese, Polynesian and European ancestors had built the temple structure into the caverns themselves, protecting them from the elements, and were only partially buried by time and sediment. These were where the Unown made their home. Lucas bypassed the main structure for one of the smaller offshoot buildings that surrounded the main temple.

Lucas had had more than his fill of the Unown in Sinnoh, where a similar temple stood. He had explored that ruin with his rival Morgan, where the two of them ended up trapped for many hours. This lead to a hilarious, but incredibly vulgar situation that became known between the two of them as the 'Popcorn Incident', one Lucas swore never to repeat to any living person, not even the love of his life.

Instead, it was what was available in the smaller buildings that attracted the Mohawked teen to the ruins. Located in these buildings were strange puzzles were sliding tiles could be used to make a picture. No one knew exactly what purpose these puzzles served, except that successfully completing the puzzle lead to a trap door that lead back into the main ruins. The scientist speculated that this was some part of a ritual or initiation, but they studied them by allowing tourists to participate in the game and then collected the results. Lucas had wanted to try these puzzles, remembering he never got a chance to as a child, having waited in line for hours and just before it was his turn, the class had to leave.

It seemed a small, unimportant thing in the long run, but dammit, he was here now and a world class Trainer, if he wanted to finally go and do the puzzles, he was going to do the friggin' puzzles. But it looked like he would have to wait now as well. In spite of the relatively small crowds, the puzzle rooms were still immensely popular, and even this early in the day there was still a massive line. Lucas let out a small sigh, but joined in anyway, stubborn determination to finally do what he wanted to do as a child. This time no class trip was going to end and drag him away.

The wait would be long. But Lucas wouldn't be too bored, as he had Gizmo to keep him company. Even in the loneliest and most tedious of situations, he could count on the small Eevee to keep a smile on his face. The small Pokemon seemed to have an eternal innocence about him, chirping just as enthusiastically for the first chin scratch as the hundredth, and running around his feet with the same speed and gusto. Some days Lucas wondered if the Pokemon's personality would have ever change if he had the opportunity to evolve, and wondering if the creature regretted that it couldn't. Lucas had experienced both. Franky the Gyrados kept his sweet, affectionate personality when he evolved from a Magicarp, while his Charmander Hotrod started as a fairly easygoing Pokemon but became more serious and distinguished each time he evolved. Both Pokemon he had almost as long as the Eevee, but it was easy to forget how experienced Gizmo really was, even Lucas sometimes underestimating that cute, fuzzy exterior.

Gizmo was no house pet. He was a veteran fighter and had nearly died abandoned in Eterna Forest. His personality was his own choice, choosing to embrace his happy life with his beloved Trainer, and embraced each adventure or sign of affection with the same gratitude he had after the first one. And so as the line edged up and finally went inside the building, Lucas scooped up the fluffy ball of fur and cuddled the Pokemon to his face. Even if Gizmo evolving was purely hypothetical, in the end, the teen realized Gizmo would remain Gizmo, no matter what.

The inside of the building was very similar to the main temple structure. About the only difference was the size of the room, and the central pedestal where the tiles were laid. The tourists would be guided up two stone steps by the helpful tour guide, and then given a few minutes to try to solve the puzzle. The person would either give up in frustration, or vanish to the catacombs below from finding the solution. Lucas waited with a mix of anticipation and impatience, and tried to distract himself from the seemingly endless line by letting his eyes wander around the room. Each wall was chiseled with thousands of glyphs that looked identical to the Unown, in neat columns and rows with equal spacing. As far as Lucas could tell, there was no punctuation or separation between the words, if there were even any words at all. He assumed that the writing was in the ancient language the mysterious civilization spoke, the one the scientists were so desperately trying to decipher, but to him it all looked like gibberish, and reminded him of those word search puzzles.

For a lark he started hunting in the letters for words as though it was a word search. It was just for amusement, and he didn't expect to find anything, so the teen Trainer was stunned when on the back wall behind the pedestal he found something he understood. The word 'escape'. Legible from left to right from one of the rows.

Could it have been a coincidence? That in the jumble of signs and letters that the ancient language happened to have an English-by-way-of-French word in it? Or maybe he was reading between two words and his brain just filled in the parts, that the letters just before or just behind it wore the real words and phrases. Or the ancient language was like Japanese, read in columns and not rows. In the Pokemon World both languages were common enough that most people were fluent in both. Curiosity genuinely piqued, he started scanning down the columns to see if the coincidence could happen again.

There were some short combinations. 'Was'. 'At'. 'It'. But nothing as long or as specific as 'escape'. Lucas checked more walls and the ceiling, but no other words popped at him. He was very close to the front of the line now, only four people ahead of him for the pedestal, but the teen couldn't let the coincidence go. He reached into the duffle bag on his back and pulled out an Escape Rope, an item used to instantly escape hostile environments. Lucas had a few on him from his early Training days. They were lifesavers for beginning Trainers who stumble into places where they have bit off more than they can chew, but it had been ages since Lucas last needed one. He still kept a few for emergencies, even an experienced Trainer can be caught under prepared. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with one and other, Escape Ropes being modern inventions, but Lucas looked the item over in his hands, repeatedly glancing to the back wall and the word almost taunting him. If he used it and he was wrong, he'd lose his place in line and have to wait several more hours to get back to the same place. But at the same time, the rebellious side of his personality kept whispering to him like it were a big red button just screaming to be pushed.

Curiosity won out over reason, Lucas no longer able to help himself. He stepped out of the line and dipped unseen behind the tour guide until he could almost touch the back wall where the word sat chiseled into the stone, taunting him. He knew better than to touch the delicate glyphs with his hands, but with part of the rope he gently pressed the item to the word.

Lucas would have a hard time describing what happened next. He registered a flash of a bright light, but he had no idea how long it lasted. At the time it felt like things were going in slow motion, but when he checked his Pokevice it seemed like only seconds had passed. Next it seemed like the wall opened up? And swallowed him? No, that didn't make any sense, and yet, the tattooed teen wouldn't be able to think of a more accurate way of explaining the phenomenon. All he knew was he was in an entirely new room. No pedestal, no tourists, and seemingly, no way out.

The wall behind him was solid, and the short corridor led to an even larger room that also seemed to have no doors or windows. And strangely, unlike the other rooms of the ruin, the walls, floors and ceiling were entirely blank. Devoid entirely of any marking whatsoever. Lucas began to curse giving into temptation and tried to figure out how to get out. He didn't have any rock types to dig him out, or psychic Pokemon to use teleport. Gizmo might have been able to use Dig in a worst case scenario, and Barbarella might be able to melt some of the rock…

But as Lucas stepped into the room to gauge his situation, something strange happened. The blank floor seemed to glow, and words seemed to write themselves before him. Lucas worried that this was the work of wild Unown and he would have another 'popcorn' situation on his hands, but the writing was too coherent and too intentional. As the words formed on the floor, an idea popped into the Trainer's brain and he whipped out his Pokevice to record the astonishing sight:

"_Our words have remained here through the ages. The remnants of our memories and our wisdom. Locked in time, waiting for someone worthy to pass this knowledge on. With the will of our intentions, and the power of the partner Pokemon we had loved, we bring these words to be understood by the One we have chosen._

"_Through our folly and hubris, our people and civilization had died a slow death over eons. The lessons of our fathers forgotten by our sons, and our children left behind all that we built. With the last of the ancient knowledge we possessed, we preserved the last of what we were._

"_We came to this land as strangers, knowing not what we would find. The Pokemon we at first thought mere animals to hunt for food showed us the power they possessed, and the relationship we could have with them. Through them we learned all there is to know of this world and beyond, and learned to record it with these signs. Pokemon are more than beasts of burden, more than spirits of nature._

"_They come from beyond our world, beyond our understanding. They chose to inhabit this world, and more importantly, chose to be with people. Never forget this, Chosen One. Though our sons believe they have achieved Mastery over the Pokemon, our fathers know they have Mastery over us. A benevolent partnership that must never be taken for granted._

"_The one that comes from all is their originator. Honor that one above all. Honor the might of the ones that control the weather, the lands and the skies. To do otherwise will invite the wrath of those with the power to Destroy. This is the final lesson we share, for it was the lesson that we did not learn until all was lost._

"_With this, Chosen One, the last of our words has finally been given to the One we believe will use them wisely, and we may finally rest in the sands of time knowing our greatest treasure is in safe hands. Spread this lesson to all you know, so that the sons of our sons learn what we failed to teach."_

With the last of the words the floor once more became blank. Not even the dust where the letters inscribed themselves looked disturbed. For several moments Lucas stood in awe, only after several minutes remembering to stop the Pokevice's recording. But now Lucas was back were he started, or at least so he thought. The room around him was solid stone masonry, with no windows, vents or doors, and blank walls. At least they used to be blank. Across the room Lucas noticed that while the room had gone entirely bare, there seemed one, small, tiny engraving on the wall directly in front of where he was standing. His heavy black boots made no sound, but left impressions in the sandy dust, the only impression left by humans in who-knows-how-many years. The Trainer couldn't tell if he simply didn't see the writing before because of the dust, or if it only appeared as mysteriously as the letters on the floor, but once more it was a word in English.

'Water'.

At first, Lucas tried touching the space with a bottle of water, and then, hoping he wouldn't damage the ruins, sprinkled the letters with some of the fluid from the bottle. But no luck. He didn't have any water type Pokemon on him to try to spray the wall, and dug through his bag to find something helpful when a water stone he had found fell out. He picked up the Pokemon evolutionary item and dusted it off, and looking over it in his hands, he wondered if it was possible. Once more he touched the letters gently with the item, and once more the strange sensation of warped time and warped space seemingly sent him though solid stone.

When he opened his eyes he was in the middle of a patch of grass on the other side of the temple complex, lying on his back with the noon sun warming his body. He started to wonder if it was all a dream when as he got up, a stone plate slide from his stomach and gently tapped the ground with a thud. He frantically grabbed the item hoping it didn't get damaged and rubbed his eyes.

And as he looked over the stone tablet, he had one idea in his head that cleared in the million swirling thoughts and questions in his brain, '_The researchers are probably going to want to see this._'


	9. Chapter 9 Friday's Child

Chapter Nine: Friday's Child

"It's just not possible!" the researcher said.

This was the fifth time the man had said it, and Lucas was starting to lose his patience. After winning his Zephyr Badge in Violet City, Lucas had taken what was supposed to be a short side trip to the Ruins of Alph before heading on the road to Azalea Town. He had gone to do the ruin's puzzle room, something he never got to do as a child when he visited with his class when a word in plain English caught his attention. Through it, he ended up in a mysterious chamber that relayed to him an ancient message of a lost people and afterwards, he awoke in the middle of a field near the ruins with a stone tablet on his chest.

And the scientists at the lab didn't believe him.

"The Ruins of Alph have been an active archaeological dig for decades, my team alone has been here for _six straight years,_ and you mean to tell me that some twerp Trainer with a face full of holes found something an entire office full of anthropologists, archaeologists and historians couldn't?!" the researcher continued. He had said this a few times as well.

"First of all, I'm not just some bush league Trainer, I'm a _two-time_ Champion. And second of all, why couldn't someone like me make a discovery? Aren't things found by accident all the time?" Lucas snapped back, "If it's not worth anything, give me my tablet back!"

A second researcher, younger and more patient than the lead scientist put a calming hand between the two, and addressed his superior, "Sir, I know this seems extraordinary, but so far, all our testing has shown that both the tablet, and the video are, well, authentic,"

"You can't possibly tell me that that writing on the ground isn't some kind of hoax. It just can't be real! We have documented every letter of every wall of these ruins. We have done countless surveys of all the caverns, catacombs and tunnel structures in the area. Sonar! Seismological tests! There are no rooms behind, adjacent to or beneath the puzzle room! And there are no words in English anywhere on those walls!" the lead researcher was almost bellowing now, lamenting over the fact that one of the most important discoveries of his career, maybe the most important archaeological find of the century was done by a kid who looked like someone out of a wanted poster, Pokemon Champion or not. He'd be less insulted if the find was done by a donkey stumbling into a hole.

Lucas could understand the skepticism, and if he didn't have some doubts about the story himself, he'd be flipping over furniture and probably taking a swing at the researcher. And this was with keeping his temper in check.

After waking up in the field with the tablet, the first thing Lucas did was run to the office and show the researchers. While the lead researcher was doubtful from the start, the others went to investigate Lucas' claims. At first Lucas started to wonder if he dreamed the whole thing as well, as the team looked over the entire puzzle room, the word 'escape' was nowhere to be found. Then Lucas remembered the video he recorded with the Pokevice. The video recorded everything that happened, but for some reason the image was filled with dust pops and static, with the words he read barely visible in the screen.

But the scientists could not discount him entirely. First off was the tablet itself. It was done in the exact same art style as the rest of the ruins, and on it, had shown a cat-like animal in the center, surrounded by two birds, one flying overhead, and the other seeming like it was swimming underwater. Above the top bird were three more animals, more canine in appearance, positioned like they were leaping over the top bird at high speed. Below the diving bird were three more birds, carved as though they were bowing in supplication. Second was the video. Though the glowing letters were hard to see through the recording's poor quality, there was one indisputable fact about it, the written words were done in the ancient language the temple builders used.

This came as more of a shock to Lucas than anyone else, as he recalled being able to read and understand the writing perfectly. He couldn't remember word for word what it said, but he remembered the most important part. That he was given a valuable treasure as well as a critical lesson he already knew: to treat Pokemon with great respect, for their partnership is earned and not taken by force. And to do otherwise was to invite disaster.

Once more the cooler headed subordinate intervened, "The language is authentic and our computer technicians are saying this video wasn't doctored or altered,"

"He still could have faked it with his Pokemon. Unown are catchable and trainable you know, we've seen pranks with them in the past..."

"Ya'know what? Screw you guys. Give me my tablet and I'll be on my way. It's mine and you have no right to keep it," Once again Lucas gestured towards the small stone plate that had materialized on his chest, and once again the subordinate attempted to calm the Trainer down while his boss did almost everything to insult him.

"Sir, I know this seems extraordinary, but this would actually explain a lot. If these ancient peoples partnered with the Unown, the way _we_ have speculated about for years, then it would make sense that they would train their Pokemon to leave a message for future generations. We already know psychic Pokemon are capable of incredible feats, and if you suspect he'd use Unown for a forgery, it would make just as much sense for the ancients to use Unown for a genuine message,"

Rational theories and plausible hypotheses won out over the lead scientists personal feelings, "No, that actually makes a lot of sense. This entire temple is dedicated to the Unown's power to carry messages, even for eons. And its aura does attract a lot of psychic Pokemon to this area. What I don't understand is well, why _him?_"

Lucas once again opened his mouth to start hurling insults and curses, but the subordinate reacted faster, "This Trainer is a Pokemon League Champion. Based off of the message he understood, which is fairly accurate to the translation we've been performing from the video, it seems the ancients' civilization fell because they incurred the wrath of some Pokemon, perhaps even one of the legendary Pokemon that caused their way of life to fall apart. The survivors left this area, and perhaps before they did they put this warning to future generations, one that could only be accessed by someone the ancients would have thought worthy," the scientist turned back to Lucas and addressed him directly, "Were you doing anything unusual in the puzzle room?"

The teen thought for a moment and shrugged, "Not really, I mean, the only thing besides waiting in line that I was doing before I noticed the word was hugging my Eevee. I mean, I do that all the time so I wouldn't called it 'unusual,'"

"No, more and more of this fits. If the ancients used psychic Pokemon to leave their message behind, to build a room that could only be accessed if the Pokemon sent that person themselves, it would also stand to reason that they could even go as far as reading someones mind so the clues would appear as to be in their native language. The Unown are around constantly, even if they aren't always visible, and seeing you playing with your Pokemon, and sensing your aura, deemed you worthy," the subordinate researcher concluded even above the lead man's snort of derision.

Lucas took the high road and focused on the more respectful man, "So where does the tablet fit into all this? Before I got out and woke up with it, the last part of the message said the worthy One would be gifted with their greatest treasure,"

"Admittedly...we don't know. It's too early to say," the scientist gave a pleading look to his boss before turning back to the teen and added, "This is why we'd like to ask you a favor. To please let us hold onto the tablet and study it further. It's very old and could get damaged during your travels, it'd be safe here and if we learn anything important we'd let you know right away and you could take it back,"

The Trainer glared back at the lead scientist, daring him to say or do anything disrespectful, but the man understood the importance of the find, and bowed in humility, "As long as I can take it back whenever I want to,"

"Of course, it's your property. You were the one that found it, and if it really was given to you by the Unown, then there was a reason you were meant to have it,"

The teen thought over the scientist's proposal. He had no idea what the tablet was for, but it was obvious it was important. On one hand, he wanted to take it with him, if it was meant for him to have, that the ancient civilization's Pokemon picked him, he should probably keep it with him. On the other, the scientists made a lot of sense, and it would be a lot safer in a lab than in his duffel bag and they could give him more concrete information than the vague, cryptic message that appeared on the floor. "All right. I'll give you guys my number. Anything important and I'll come back right away,"

"Thank you so much, Lucas. You have no idea how much we appreciate it," the scientist said gratefully.

Lucas peered back at the lead researcher, who while on his face was smiling, was clearly still fuming from the whole situation. The teen took one last opportunity to take a jab at him, "You're right. You're not making your appreciation clear at all,"

Soon after Lucas left the ruins. He felt bad that once again, he didn't get to do the puzzles, but he consoled himself with the fact that what happened instead was much more exciting and much more important. He was blessed with a sacred treasure of a lost civilization. Granted, he had no idea what the gift was. Aside from being old and heavy, the tablet didn't seem particularly special, but hopefully the scientists could make some headway and tell him what the engraved stone meant.

He could figure it did have something to do with legendary Pokemon. Being a Johto native, and Johto being one part of the Indigo sister regions, Lucas was familiar with the mythical Pokemon of his region. Stories of giant birds that only appeared before worthy Trainers and mighty beasts that traveled the lands, causing volcanic eruptions, devastating storms and howling winds. Those legends closely resembled figures from the tablet. And in his travels he had learned something else, that legendary Pokemon sometimes weren't so legendary. In the Mirage Tower, his boyfriend Skyler had come face to face with the titanic dragon Rayquazza, thought only to be a myth worshiped by the ancient peoples of Hoenn.

To get to Azalea Town from Violet City meant going through Union Cave. If Sinnoh's most distinguishing feature was its mountains, and Hoenn its beaches and waterways, Johto's most significant landscapes were its caverns. The rocky region had almost as much going below ground as above it, with miles of tunnels boring through the hills and forests. They were a virtual goldmine for Trainers, but could be hazardous to the under prepared. Luckily, just before the caves was a Pokemon Center. As Lucas made his way south he took some time to search for new Pokemon, catching a Mareep and a Wooper. He passed a large pond that connected to the caves where dozens of fisherman were furiously looking for Qwilfish, a difficult to find water Pokemon that only appeared in that small body of water.

With a final stop at the Union Cave Pokemon Center, Lucas began his trek to Azalea Town. Union Cave was dark and difficult to traverse without some kind of light. Though Pokemon League officials in the past had attempted to put electrical lights through the cavern, the local Pokemon kept destroying the lamps, and it was decided it was better to leave well enough alone. Because the caves and caverns were so easy to get lost in, the only compromise was trail markers letting Trainers know they were going the right way. These the Pokemon seemed to leave alone. Possibly because the trail markers meant lots of Trainers were forced to pass by, and were perfect places for an ambush.

Lucas found these ambushes more of a nuisance than a hindrance. Zubat and Geodude seemed to pop up every few feet. Only a Sandshrew caught Lucas' fancy, and after yet another bother, decided to douse himself in Repel, a chemical that Pokemon hated and would stay away from. Even Gizmo stopped riding on Lucas' shoulder as the smell was too caustic for the creature's sensitive nose. With the Pokemon no longer harassing him, the teen Trainer could focus on the cavern itself and its wonders. The dim light from his flashlight created eerie shadows and deceptive shapes, and in the dark could feel his other senses getting stronger. Just beyond the thin line of light of his flashlight, and beyond the perimeter of the smell of the Repel, Lucas could hear the chittering of Zubat all around him, and low throaty rumbling of Onix calling to each other and tunneling deeper in the caves. He also heard another sound that piqued his interest tremendously.

It was some kind of melodious singing, mournful and haunting and just barely in earshot. There was something about the cry that seemed vaguely familiar, and Lucas remembered the rumors of Union Cave of the mysterious song that could only be heard on Fridays. Lucas double-checked his Pokevice to confirm, that yes, it was indeed Friday that day. The Trainer rarely kept track of the days of the week, it was largely unnecessary in his line of life. Pokemon Centers and Pokemarts were open seven days a week, and school and a traditional job far from Lucas' thoughts. But as he continued to hear the sound, Lucas felt drawn to it, curious to learn what was behind Friday's Song.

He came to a fork in the tunnels, one side marking the trail out of the cave, the other off the path, but the sound could be heard a little louder coming from the other side. Lucas weighed his options carefully. Going off trail could be dangerous. It wasn't just Pokemon he had to worry about, but cave-ins, or becoming so lost that no one would ever find him. But he had to find the source of the song, and with only a final step of hesitation, turned towards the noise.

He used the haunting melody as his guide through the cave, knowing he was getting closer and closer to the source as it got louder. Then something strange happened. He starting noticing a faint glow ahead of him that wasn't coming from his flashlight, and a new sound in addition to the song, the sound of gently lapping water sloshing against rocks. All three senses became more and more apparent, the sound of the song and the water, the brighter and brighter light. A new sense entered in as well, the smell of salty sea water.

Finally the source of all these mysteries became known to the two-League Champion. The caverns opened up to a large body of water, glowing just brightly enough to cast the entire cavern in an eerie light. And just across the pool, singing with an enticing siren's song, was a wild Lapras.

Lucas immediately figured out the mystery. Union Cave clearly connected with the ocean, it was also why Qwilfish appeared, though extremely rarely, in the pond just outside of the Pokemon Center. Lucas had seen a similar phenomenon before, in Sinnoh at the base of Mt. Coronet, and guessed this was how the Lapras got into the caves. Why it chose to appear only on Fridays was anyone's guess. But the teen was enchanted by the Pokemon. He had faced the ice and water type before, and though an incredibly rare species, particularly in Johto, they were popular Pokemon to ride because of their large backs and peaceful dispositions.

"Well aren't you beautiful," Lucas said aloud to the Pokemon treading water. Though he thought he was quiet, he found his voice echoing uncomfortably through the cavern. With the sound of his voice, the enchantment was broken, and the Lapras stopped singing. The Pokemon eyed him curiously, wading cautiously back and forth on the water's surface, wondering what the human would do. Lucas approached the shore of the water carefully, not wanting to scare the timid Pokemon into bolting away. The Lapras remained hesitant, but after a few moments starting swimming closer, slowly and lazily, but it hadn't decided to run away.

Lucas held his breath as the Pokemon approached, but just before it got close enough to engage in battle and try to catch it, the Lapras froze, a look of wide-eyed terror at something just beyond Lucas' right shoulder. The tattooed Trainer scrunched his face in puzzlement but then followed the Pokemon's frightened gaze. As soon as he saw what the ice type was staring at he spun on his heels and straightened out into an aggressive pose.

"Well, this is my lucky day," it was a man, in his late forties, or at least looked that old due to the leathery nature of his face, with a thick Australian accent. He wore a snakeskin cowboy hat, khaki clothing, heavy boots, and most telling, a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder. This was the item that had sent the Lapras in a fit of terror. Lucas knew instantly who the man was.

Or more accurately, _what_ he was. The personality and personal facts behind the foreigner were as far as Lucas cared, entirely irrelevant, "F&*$ing poacher!"

The man seemingly noticed Lucas for the first time, and the wide smile he had from seeing the Lapras vanished, "Aw hell, one of those do-gooder Trainer blighters,"

In the Pokemon World, Pokemon were vital to everyday life, which was why even most native criminals saw more value in live Pokemon than dead ones. But some foreigners just couldn't understand how special the creatures were, thinking them nothing more than animals to be hunted. Illegal poaching caused dents in the Farfetch'd population, Slowpokes to have their tails to go missing, and were particularly devastating to Lapras, whose shells that Trainers found to be comfortable ferries were considered novel trophies in other countries.

Lucas was too far deep in the caverns to go for help. If he was to save the Lapras he'd be on his own. But that was something these foreign poachers never could wrap their head around. There was no such thing as a single threat from a Pokemon Trainer, "You piece of shit, you're about to find out how unlucky your day _really_ is,"


	10. Chapter 10 Justice

Chapter Ten: Justice

On his way to Azalea Town through Union Cave to get his second Johto badge, Lucas had become sidetracked by a mysterious sound deep in the bowels of the caverns rumored to only be heard on Fridays. He followed the song until he stumbled across a wild Lapras, but as he attempted to capture it, he was interrupted by one of the worst kinds of people to exist.

A Pokemon poacher.

The man had his sights on the same Lapras, but for far more nefarious reasons. Lucas wanted the Pokemon as a new partner. The Australian poacher just wanted the creature's shell. Lucas had warned the man his life was about to become significantly worse.

But gauging the boy the poacher had assumed he had the upper hand. Not only was the boy not yet out of his teens, he was smaller, thinner and didn't have nearly as much experience as the poacher did. And on top of everything the man had a loaded rifle which he had just slung off his shoulder and was now pointing at the boy, "Going to give you a chance to get out of here, mate. Still peaceful like. We both know these parts of the caves aren't on the maps, and when I put a bullet in your head I very much doubt anyone's going to miss a nosy little snot like you. Even if you go get the police, I'll be long gone with my booty long before you come back. So get outta here like a good lad,"

Lucas sneered malevolently. The man could not have picked a worse enemy if he tried. Not only was the tattooed teen a two-League Champion, one of the best Trainers in the Pokemon World, he loved Pokemon more than anything. Long before he found Gizmo and became a Trainer, he had gotten expelled for duct taping a boy's mouth and hands and keeping him in his own locker and undiscovered for three days, because the classmate had thrown a rock at a nest of Pidgey. Lucas may have made amends for many of his worst actions, but his personality never fundamentally changed. It may have been illegal to use Pokemon to harm a human being, but it was just as illegal to kill Pokemon.

And the Mohawked teen with the tattooed arms, pierced eyebrows, lips and ears, and steel-toed boots never subscribed to the philosophy that two wrongs _don't_ make a right.

The gun pointing directly at his forehead would prove problematic, but weapons weren't scary to the people who lived in lands where they could literally wake up to find their cars melted by the creatures in their backyards. The poacher continued to aim the rifle, staring Lucas down so he would leave him to his quarry. What he didn't notice was the teen subtly reaching his fingers towards his belt, "Alright boy, last chance. Get out or these critters you're so keen on protecting is going to feast on your corpse,"

Lucas stood his ground. The poacher cocked the hammer back on his rifle. And with lightning reflexes from his days of street fighting, Lucas pulled the Pokeball off his belt and dove to the side, throwing the ball and giving a command, "Go Lairon! Use Iron Head!"

The Pokemon Lucas had caught and evolved in Hoenn appeared before his master and charged towards the poacher. Knowing the typing the next Gym would have, Lucas decided to switch out his team again at the Pokemon Center just outside Union Cave to train and prepare. Rock types were powerful against bug types, and by a happy coincidence, their tough bodies had a convenient second function as well, which the poacher was about to discover.

They were bulletproof.

The poacher got off three shots. The one he had originally aimed at Lucas missed and hit the ground where the boy had just been standing, and he quickly shifted towards the large beast that was now charging him. The cartridges were designed to take down large, thick skinned animals like elephants and rhinos, but the two bullets bounced harmlessly off the Pokemon, not slowing the Lairon down even in the slightest. He barreled into the human and sent him flying across the cavern like a ragdoll, the poacher dropping the gun, as well as losing his hat and one of his shoes from the impact.

Lucas gave a second command to the rock and steel type before throwing out a second Pokeball and a third, his Quilava and a Ledian he had evolved from the Ledyba he caught outside of Cherrygrove, "Lairon, eat the gun!"

The Pokemon happily obeyed, the Hoenn creature a notorious nuisance in its home region for eating metal and gobbled down the rifle, only spitting out the wooden handle that didn't appeal to its ferrous pallet. The poacher shakily recovered, pulling himself up from his crash landing, though he wobbled when he stood and vomited violently from his injury. But in spite of the hit, or anything resembling common sense, turned his attention back to Lucas, pulling out a hunting knife the size of a movie cliche, and a large net from a pouch on his belt. The nervous Lapras was trying to swim away in the commotion, and before it could get to the edge of the cave and dive under the water, the man threw the net, tangling the Pokemon and sending it into wild-eyed panic. The man smiled triumphantly and turned back to Lucas, "Now you die slow and painful-like, boy. I'm going to carve you up and tan them tattooed arms of yours to make wallets!"

Lucas flicked his eyes briefly to watch the suffering, terrified wild Pokemon and turned back towards the man with fresh hate. A sadistic gleam in his eye from knowing this fight wasn't over yet, "I was hoping we weren't done yet," He called out to all his Pokemon various commands before charging the man with the knife, "Barbarella, Flamethrower! Lairon, Iron Head again! Ledian, Supersonic! And Gizmo, give me cover with a Shadowball!"

Gizmo started shooting balls of dark energy in front of the poacher and Lucas kept all his focus on the sharp blade as he dove forward, keeping his arms in front of his face and ducking his head down as the man swiped, then headbutted the man himself in the gut. The poacher yelped in spite of himself from being struck in his already tenderized stomach and the Lairon came up from behind and rammed the man in the kidneys. Barbarella's Flamethrower hit his hand at the end of the arc of the man's swing, the metal blade instantly becoming too hot to hold. And meanwhile, the Ledian began vibrating her wings and sending sonic waves throughout the cave. But the poacher was made of sterner stuff than Lucas expected, and as he went down from the pain in his back, pulled Lucas down with his remaining healthy hand.

The teen went too far in showing off, in trying to torture the poacher as much as possible in punishment for his sins against Pokemon, and put himself in a vulnerable position. The man outweighed Lucas considerably, and was much larger not just in terms of height or body mass, but also in sheer amount of muscle. And now this close to the criminal, the teen could see a number of scars and marks on the man's face and arms, scars familiar to the kind Lucas and his fellow gang members had. Whatever experience Lucas had street fighting, the poacher clearly had that much more. And the fact that a man who made his living hunting and killing Pokemon—and was somehow still alive nor in jail to do it—the Trainer realized he had seriously underestimated his opponent. Something he would never normally do.

His rage blinded him in his reason, and now the bigger, stronger man had him pinned on the cavern's floor, with his uninjured arm squeezing the teen's throat. Lucas tried to kick against the man, clawing at him, calling out to his Pokemon. But the pressure on his neck robbed him of his voice. His Pokemon paced frantically, trying to figure out a way to save their Trainer without injuring him in an outright assault. The poacher hissed, "Aw, the precious Trainer can't have his little pets help him now? Don't like having me time wasted, boy. I'm a man with deadlines and a schedule to keep. Now I'm going to choke the life out of you. Then I'm going to make trophies out of your bitty critters. Then I'm going to get me prize and be on my way. And you? You're just going to be rotten bones that could have had a nice long life if he minded his own business!"

Lucas couldn't respond, the cave was getting darker as the oxygen was fading in his brain. But just as he was at the border of unconsciousness, he heard a sound that would have made him laugh if he could. For even if Lucas was stupid enough to take the man head on, he wasn't so stupid as to not have a backup plan that involved trusting his Pokemon. At first it seemed like the normal chirping of the Zubat of Union Cave, but the poacher didn't notice that it was far too loud and too numerous. Just as Lucas was about to blackout, a plague of Zubat, Golbat, and even a few Crobat flooded the cavern, shrieking with rage and bloodlust. They plummeted into the poacher, throwing him off of the Trainer and swarming him. Lucas sucked in a lungful of fresh air with a gasping wheeze, rubbing his undoubtedly bruised neck and climbed to his hands and knees. His Pokemon rushed him gratefully, and he leaned on them both out of concern and necessity. The Ledian's Supersonic attack had worked, and the agitating noise caused the Zubat and its evolved forms to come find the source. As the man screamed in fear and agony, with no Pokemon of his own to defend him, his weapons now scattered and useless on the cavern floor, and the last of his strength spent against Lucas, he was helpless against the swarm of bat Pokemon. Lucas merely looked on weakly, "Guess the Repel wore off,"

As the Zubat continued their assault against the poacher, Lucas gathered his strength to check on the Lapras. It was still struggling fearfully against the net. So Lucas grabbed the poacher's abandoned knife and approached the trapped Pokemon. Seeing the weapon caused a fresh wave of panic in the Pokemon, but the Trainer kept his voice low and calming, and quickly worked to slice the net off the Lapras. When the last of her flippers were free, she stopped thrashing. Lucas tossed the knife and the Pokemon looked at the human curiously again, "It's okay baby girl, you're free now. Get out of here, he can't hurt you anymore,"

The Lapras didn't move away. In fact, it swam closer to the Trainer, leaning her head against the teen gently. Lucas couldn't help but stroke the Pokemon's face in response. He took out a Pokeball and offered it to the ice type, and like Old Soldier before, she voluntarily allowed herself to be captured.

"I'm calling you Angela, since you sing like an angel and are just as sweet as one," the Trainer said to the Pokemon before turning his attention back to the screaming poacher still being bitten by the Zubat. He pulled out his Pokevice and made a comment to his team, "Probably should do something about that, shouldn't I? That screaming is starting to get on my nerves,"


	11. Chapter 11 Lucas vs Bugsy

Chapter Eleven: Lucas vs Bugsy

Going through Union Cave on his way to Azalea Town, Lucas stumbled on not just a wild Lapras, but a poacher trying to hunt her. He had fought against the man with his Pokemon, and just when it looked like the teen was on the losing side, was saved by a flock of Zubat summoned by his Ledian. He captured the Lapras as well as the poacher. And after letting the Zubat have some fun with him, took the man into his custody, where at Union Cave's entrance he was met by Azalea Town's police force. The Australian was almost grateful to see the authorities after his ordeal. Most likely he didn't learn his lesson, but it would probably be a long time before he would ever see outside a prison cell, and even longer before he'd ever want to see another Pokemon ever again.

After the darkness and danger of Union Cave, Azalea Town was a refreshing sight. The town was tiny with houses and shops clustered closely together, and unlike the larger cities of Johto that kept their ancient architecture out of choice, Azalea's older look was more out of necessity. Aside from the Gym, the town was entirely made up of craftspeople, mostly carpenters and carvers who preferred the manual touch for their arts as opposed to electric machinery with the wood from the nearby Ilex Forest. It meant their setups and workshops, which were just extensions of their homes, had to remain in the same way as their ancestors. As Lucas walked past the Slowpoke Well, an ancient Pokemon nest not used for drawing water, but for predicting rain, he could hear the sound of hammers pounding and smell the faint scent of burning wood from charcoal makers running their kilns.

He ignored the workshops for the moment, mentally preparing to explore them another time. The teen just about collapsed upon arriving at the Pokemon Center. While his time in Union Cave wasn't particularly long, it was incredibly exhausting, and Lucas planned a nice long rest before continuing training and challenging the Gym. After healing his hardworking Pokemon, he flopped face first onto one of the Center's cots, not even bothering to undress. He lost track of how many hours he slept, but it was well into the middle of the next afternoon before he awoke again.

He couldn't help smirking at his appearance in a nearby mirror as he got ready to leave the Center and explore the town. He had only been back in Johto a few days and he looked like a complete mess. He hadn't bothered messing with his Mohawk since confronting his old gang and leaving Cherrygrove, his clothes were caked with dust from visiting the Ruins of Alph, and now he had an ugly purple hand print from where the poacher had tried to choke him in Union Cave. Dark circles were under his eye and his entire body ached in a way it hadn't since he first made traveling on the road his home, and felt entirely run ragged. Somehow less than a week in his 'home' had taken more of a toll on him than the entirety of journeying across two regions in almost two years. He made a mental note to do his laundry after his training for that day, and to see if he could schedule an appointment with his favorite barber in Goldenrod City. It had been over a year and a half since he had his hair professionally taken care of. The black of the dye he bought in local pharmacies looked too artificial, and it was harder and harder to keep the hair around the Mohawk the nice, neat buzz cut length he preferred.

But for now he'd explore Azalea.

The Gym was the easiest to find. It was the largest building in town and he could see the back of it from the Pokemon Center's front doors. Unlike Violet City, Azalea Town was one of the few places in Johto he had never been before. The town was off the beaten path for non-Trainers, and his parents had no interest in ever taking him or his brother to visit. This was unusual because Azalea's main source of income, after its wares, was tourism. People came from all around Johto to see the craftspeople working. Lucas had seen the same kind of draw before in Hoenn when he visited the glassblowers of Fallarbor Town. There was something intensely fascinating, and almost magical, about watching people transform shapeless masses of wood and rock into beautiful and useful items, a magic Lucas himself found he was not immune to. He didn't have to go very far to watch people of all ages sitting at the workshops located just outside their front doors working with the wood from Ilex Forest. An old man was showing a young boy how to hold a carving knife while two men at another shop sang a traditional work song as they hacked at a log with chisels and a hammer.

However it was a shop almost directly next to the Pokemon Center that really drew Lucas in. Unlike the other craftspeople who were working with wood, the man sitting on his front porch, a pot of tea on one side of him, a pile of chisels and other tools on the other, appeared to be carving into a small round fruit with a slightly pinkish hue. His bald head was shining in the sun, and chips from his work were falling onto his bare feet before landing off the porch. If Lucas didn't know any better, it seemed like he was making a Pokeball. The man's demeanor wasn't welcoming, but curiosity won out over courtesy, the tattooed Trainer hardly cared if he made people uncomfortable, "Excuse me, but was it you're making?"

"Love Ball." the man didn't even look up from his work as he answered the Trainer.

Lucas did a double-take, "You mean that thing is a Pokeball? A working one?"

The man responded with a grunt, "Would hardly make sense to waste time on a replica. 'T's why we got Voltorb,"

The Trainer was even more curious now, and approached to get a better look, "How is that even possible?"

The man finally looked up from his work and shook his head, "Kids these days. What are they even teaching you in school, anymore? How do you think we caught Pokemon before Silph starting making Pokeballs? Ran around with big silly nets and leashes?"

"I guess I never really thought about it. How are you doing that, anyway?" Without an invitation, Lucas walked up to the man's porch and studied the things he had around him. In addition to the tools, Lucas noticed a pile of more of the fruit just behind the craftsman, these ones milky white in color.

Much to the teen's surprise, the more intrusive the Trainer was, the more the craftsman seemed welcoming, his tone less and less hostile as he explained the process, "Apricorns. Grow on trees like the one out back. Quite a few of them grown around Johto. Mostly used to make Pokemon food, but in the old days the shell was used to catch the creatures themselves. Name's Kurt, by the way,"

"Lucas," after introducing himself, the teen's gaze followed Kurt's gesture to the tree right behind the man's house. More of the fruit hung off the branches, and Lucas realized he had seen similar trees around Violet City, with Caterpie and Rattata grabbing the fallen, rotten fruits and running off into the bushes.

The man put down the ball he had been working on and picked up one of the unused white fruits. With an expert, experienced gesture he cracked the Apricorn perfectly in half, exposing the pulpy, pomegranate-like meat inside, "Scoop out this stuff here and scrap out the fibers. Then the shell is chiseled so the circuitry fits and it's left to dry. Apricorn shell is actually a lot stronger than most Pokeballs, so it's easier to catch Pokemon with them. Different fruits have different qualities, so some are better for catching certain Pokemon over others. White ones are good for fast Pokemon,"

"That is so wild! Using fruit to catch Pokemon. Are they hard to make?"

"Definitely there's an art to it. Make them wrong and they're useless. One thing the factory ones got over the handmade ones is they're more consistent. Have to be at this for a while before you make more good ones than duds," Kurt offered another fruit to Lucas. The teen tried mimicking what Kurt had done and cracked the Apricorn in his hands, using his thumbs to pull the fruit apart. The Apricorn popped apart like Kurt's did, but instead of two perfect halves, one side was decidedly bigger than the other, and part of the outer shell had chipped off onto the ground.

Lucas gave a small defeated sigh and offered the inside flesh to Gizmo, who gobbled it down hungrily, "Yeah, definitely harder than it looks,"

"Most things are." Kurt shrugged. He picked up the Love Ball he had been working on and said something that surprised the teen, "Nice of you to stop by. Most of Azalea's visitors don't care about my work. 'T's not as flashy as the woodwork the neighbors do. Not even most Pokemon Trainers care. Shame. This is a dying art, you know. I'm one of the last people who still knows how to do it,"

"That sucks. I mean, I know Pokeballs are pretty cheap, but how metal would it be to just pull some fruit off a tree, carve it with a knife and boom! Catch your own Pokemon with it. You'd be like a mountain man that would never have to come into a city ever again. Almost,"

That made Kurt laugh, "Gotta respect a kid who appreciates practical skills. So here, have one of these,"

The craftsman reached into a bag behind his back and tossed a Fast Ball to Lucas. The teen caught the ball in his hands, looked the finished item over, and whistled, "I've seen these before. They're definitely one of the more expensive Pokeballs. I had no idea they were handmade,"

"Definitely gives me a nice livelihood. I like to live simple, but my daughter has a nice house in the city and never has to worry about bills or things for the kids. My grandkids come here every summer and I teach them how to make the Apricorn balls. It's a good life. So kid, if you're ever back in town stop by, I'll always have a ball or two for you if you want them,"

"That's really cool. Thanks!" Lucas nodded politely in appreciation, and put the Fast Ball in his bag. Kurt waved the younger man off and returned to crafting the Love Ball.

The teen couldn't help smiling. The day started late but it was already a good one. Hoping to ride the good vibes for the day, he next headed towards the Gym, just a few short steps down from Kurt's house and the Pokemon Center.

Azalea's Gym wasn't as flashy as the massive aviary in Violet City. From the outside it was a simple brick building with 'Azalea Gym' on the front in metal letters. An official Pokemon League plaque gave the Gym Leader's name and description, as well as the previous badge winners. _Bugsy, the Walking Bug Pokemon Encyclopedia_.

The inside of the Gym was far more interesting than the building's facade. If Violet City's Gym was like a zoo, Azalea's was more like a museum. The lobby of the gym was covered ceiling to floor with framed shadowboxes filled with numerous species of insects, arachnids and various other invertebrates that non-experts colloquially referred to as 'bugs'. They were all pinned and tagged with their common names as well as their Latin terms.

Through the lobby and the main floor of the Gym, Lucas' line of sight was blocked by walls with plaques and tags of information, with photographs of close-ups of compound eyes and antennae. Though these exhibits were informative, they served a practical purpose as well, turning Azalea's Gym into a maze, forcing the challenging Trainer to wind through, and never knowing where a Junior Trainer could be lurking.

Lucas was not concerned about the Junior Trainers. The first Bug Catcher that popped out from the other side of a model termite mound only had a Caterpie and Metapod, and Lucas' Pidgeot, evolved on the road between his victory in Violet City and his arrival in Azalea Town, didn't even have to break a sweat. The other three Junior Trainers that ambushed him were just as simple, having nothing but Weedles, Caterpies and the occasionally Beedril to offer at least a shadow of a challenge. Azalea's Gym was still early in a beginning Trainer's career, and low level bug types were not much of a threat. Though the losing Trainers sniveled and prostrated when defeated, Lucas' mind was on what was waiting for him at the back of the Gym.

When the last Junior Trainer scooped up his fallen Butterfree, mumbling insults under his breath, Lucas found what he was waiting for. Past the walls, models and exhibits that had blocked his way, the Trainer finally arrived in the Gym's main arena, the open area with large battlefield surrounded by bleachers and a podium across from the opponent's entrance. Here was where the Leader would stand for their match. As for the Leader himself, he appeared to be at a desk tucked in the corner of the arena with a stack of college textbooks next to his laptop, one of the large volumes balanced on his lap as he checked a fact against a statement he wrote with his keyboard.

The Leader looked to be about twenty or twenty-one years old. He was slightly feminine, with a thin face and delicate bone structure, and could have been easily mistaken for a woman. Not helped was that his purple hair was long enough to be pulled back into a messy ponytail. Lucas thought him pretty in a fey, elfin sort of way. Thin, wire-framed glasses covered his incredibly dark eyes, and over his otherwise unremarkable street clothes in various shades of green, he wore a lab coat like a scientist.

Lucas knew this young man to be Bugsy, Azalea's Gym Leader.

At first the Leader didn't even realize a challenger was there. He was too absorbed in his work, and when several minutes passed without him even looking up from his books, Lucas knew he had to get the Leader's attention. The teen cleared his throat. Then he did it again, this time louder and causing some pain, the poacher in Union Cave hurting his neck more than he wanted to admit. The second noise finally broke Bugsy out of his work. He snapped his head up with a bewildered, lost expression on his face, and then noticed Lucas standing at the entrance of the arena. Bugsy grabbed a random sheet of paper from his desk, looked over it momentarily to make sure it wasn't anything vital, and then used it as a bookmark in his textbook before throwing it back onto the stack.

"Sorry about that. I've been working on my dissertation on entomology, you know, study of bugs, and well, the world gets away from me sometimes," the Leader got up with a disarming, sheepish smile and walked up to greet his challenger, "Wait...I know you, don't I? No, don't tell me, I'll remember eventually, just gotta stop thinking about insects for a second and it'll come to me..."

"Lucas," the teen stated helpfully. Even if Bugsy had heard of him, it looked like the young man's brain was slightly fried from all his studying.

"Yeah, that's right! You're the new Hoenn Champion! You're also the Sinnoh Champion as well. Oh, if you're here that means you're going for a third League Championship. Ooh, that means this battle is going to be a lot of fun. Using my advanced team really makes me feel like I'm in my element," Bugsy was beaming now, the scatterbrained academic now replaced with the youthful Leader who was like a boy all over again.

Bugsy was known as something of a prodigy. Not only was he incredibly young when he took over the Gym, just eleven years old and only a year after his Journey, he was regarded by even adults as an expert in Bug Pokemon. Casual Trainers often regarded bug types as one of the weakest species to train. They were numerous, typically evolved to their final forms at low levels and generally had low stats. They were easy to raise and care for for beginning Trainers. Skilled Trainers knew better than to underestimate bug types as they could learn a variety of aggravating status inducing moves, and expert Trainers could take advantage of the fact that they were one of the few types to actually have an advantage over dark and psychic type Pokemon. Both Trainers were experts. And both Trainers knew this was going to be a long and difficult fight, particularly because of Bugsy's extended knowledge of the subject. Lucas came prepared, but when he saw the calculating, tactical gleam behind that deceptively friendly smile, he knew he had to be extra cautious, and ready to change his own strategy as the tide of battle shifted.

The young man practically skipped over to the Leader podium, snatching a butterfly net before hopping up. The item more of a prop than anything necessary and addressed his opponent, "I am Bugsy, bug Pokemon expert and soon to be a Master's of Science in addition to being a master of bug types. While bug types are among the easiest to learn how to use, they take minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. And if you're an advanced Trainer, that means I have no reason to hold back and can show you what bug types are _really_ capable of!"

Lucas pulled a Pokeball off of his belt and responded to the Leader, "And I'm Lucas. I might be a Champion of two foreign Leagues but I'm a Johto native. I know exactly who you are and exactly what you can do. I'm not fooled by your appearance and I'm not stupid enough to fall for your tricks. Go! Pidgeot!"

"Go Pinsir!" the battle was already off to a difficult start. Pinsir were powerful and extremely resilient for bug types. And it was about to get that much harder, "Pinsir, use Signal Beam!"

"Use Wing Attack!" Lucas' Pidgeot's high speed let it hit first, slamming into the stag beetle Pokemon with full force. But in spite of its type advantage and solid attack power, the super effective move was not particularly damaging. The Pinsir's response, however, was more effective. The bug move slammed the bird and in addition to physical damage, caused the teen's Pokemon to become confused.

"Now use Swords Dance!"

"Pidgeot, Mirror Move!" Lucas responded frantically. Pinsirs were powerful enough, but Bugsy's Pokemon improving its attack strength would mean even otherwise ineffective moves could knock out even powerful Pokemon. But the Pidgeot was too shaken, the confusion preventing it from even hovering above the ground. Instead it tried to take to the air, only to step on one of its own wings and trip itself, smacking its face on the Gym floor and getting injured.

"Now use Submission!" Bugsy called out.

"Pidgeot use Fly! Get out of its way!" Lucas cried out desperately but the Pidgeot was still too confused to function. Once again it tried to fly up, only to mix up the rhythm of the flapping and tailspin to the ground in a painful heap. The Pinsir on the other hand grabbed the large bird with its horns, lift it high and driving it into the ground with even more force. The Pidgeot was unconscious, and Lucas' only consolation was that the Pinsir injured itself in the move as well. The tattooed Trainer's mind was still clear, but he could feel the adrenaline start to pump into his veins. It had been a while since he faced an opponent this challenging, but he also knew this was what he was to expect when facing Bugsy, "Pidgeot, return! Go Barbarella!"

Lucas' Quilava stood before her opponent, her fiery coat more bristled than usual. Bugsy eyed the fire type with a smirk and called out his next attack, "Fire types won't help you here! Pinsir, Signal Beam again!"

"Flamethrower!" the starter Pokemon may not have been a powerhouse like his other fire starter, his Charizard Hotrod, but what the Quilava lacked in raw force, she made up in cunning and finesse. She dodged the confusing attack and ran between the bug type's short legs, using the fire from her back to blast like a furnace and send the bug Pokemon flying. She managed to land a critical hit, and while not able to knock the Pinsir out, another round and the Pokemon would be done for.

Bugsy realized this as well and changed tactics, giving his command while pushing his glasses further up his face, "U-Turn, Pinsir!"

Before Lucas could even call out his next move, the Pinsir clipped Barbarella from the side with its horn before diving back into its Pokeball. The move caused another Pokeball to fall down and roll into battle. This time, a Yanmega appeared on the field. The pierced teen glared at the new Pokemon, thinking through his next move, since it was still his turn, "Barbarella, Flamethrower again!"

The Quilava obeyed and blew flames again, this time from her mouth instead of her back. The giant dragonfly flew back from the force, heavily damaged by the attack. But while the smoke wafted off of the bug's back, a sort of shimmer appeared on its body as well.

"What was that?!"

Bugsy answered helpfully, "That's Yanmega's Speed Boost. Every turn its speed and evasion go up, no matter what happens. Also. Yanmega, use Ancient Power!"

"Flame Wheel Barbarella!" Lucas gave the command as quickly as he could. If he could hit the bug a second time, he knew it would go down. But the Yanmega was just too fast. With the back half of its body it knocked up a chunk of the Gym floor and flung it across the field. Barbarella scrambled to get out of the way, but the rock was too large and had too much momentum behind it. The Quilava caught the rock right in the torso and yelped, the Yanmega landing a critical hit. Barbarella twitched and fainted. Lucas inhaled a calming breath. He was down two Pokemon and Bugsy's team was still whole. It had seemed like ages since he dealt with a Gym Match this fierce. He pulled off the next Pokeball and changed tactics yet again, "Go Lairon!"

The rock and steel Pokemon appeared on the field. It would be much slower than the dragonfly Pokemon, but it had an extreme type advantage, something Bugsy recognized immediately, "Yanmega, Double Team!"

With each turn the dragonfly would become faster and even harder and harder to hit. The Leader figured type advantage wouldn't matter if the attacks couldn't actually land. Lucas knew this as well, but he had other plans, "Lairon, Swift!"

Bugsy's eyes widened with a rare look of surprise. Regardless of how quick or how evasive the Yanmega was, only a few moves could allow a Swift attack to miss. And that Yanmega didn't know any of them. Bugsy held out his Pokeball and called his next attack, "U-Turn, Yanmega!"

Like the Pinsir, the Yanmega bolted forward and clipped the opponent Pokemon with its wing before doubling back and returning to its Trainer. The Pinsir appeared again, "Submission!"

Even though Bugsy had called out the attack, Lucas still had time to act, "Lairon, Iron Head! Just like the Cave!"

The rhino-like steel type charged forward with its head lowered, pounding the bug type full in the body, and this time, Lucas came up on top. The Pinsir was heavily injured from its previous round, mostly from the damage it did to itself from the other Submission attack, and could not withstand the super effective move. Bugsy was still smiling, but his grip was practically choking the net he was holding, "Yanmega, let's do this again! Air Cutter!"

The dragonfly didn't know any moves that would take out the Lairon directly, but it was strong enough that even disadvantaged attacks could do at least _something_. And while the steel type was also strong, it would take quite a few more Swift attacks before it would go down. Lucas could only hope his more durable type Pokemon could outlast the carefully trained Gym Leader's creature.

It seemed Lucas would come out on top for this round, but not without a cost. The Yanmega was finally defeated, but Lairon did not escape unscathed. And now Bugsy was down to his final Pokemon, but the Leader's expression showed no concern at being left in this situation. And Lucas could figure why, "This has been a blast! But as strong as my Pokemon are, they were just the warm-ups. The _real_ Gym challenge starts now. Go Scizor!"

If Lucas were more of a rookie, he'd have let out a chain of curses when the Gym Leader's gleaming red Pokemon appeared on the field of battle. Now a mature, experienced Trainer, the tattooed teen simply thought out the battery of profanity he wanted to say upon seeing the Scizor. The evolved form of the already ludicrously powerful and fast Scyther, the steel and bug type sacrificed some of its speed for even more power. But even at that cost, a Scizor was still faster than the majority of Pokemon. His Quilava would have had the best advantage against the Pokemon, but he had brought Barbarella out too early and she was knocked out. He would need to sacrifice a turn in order to use a Revive, but it would cost him a different Pokemon, and there was no guarantee a type advantage would win the match.

Lucas stood before his opponent, weighing his options, and thinking that Bugsy's reputation was not exaggerated. So how was a Trainer, even an incredibly talented Trainer, able to beat someone who devoted their lives to mastery of one type?


	12. Chapter 12 A Stroll Through Ilex Forest

Chapter Twelve: A Stroll Through Ilex Forest

After arriving in Azalea Town through Union Cave, Lucas had gone to the Azalea Gym to challenge its Leader. A bug type Gym, Lucas breezed through the Junior Trainers, but the Leader was a different matter. Lucas was now confronting Bugsy with his advanced team, and having the hardest Gym match that he could remember since his earliest days as a Trainer. Bugsy wasn't just a bug type expert, but a prodigy since childhood and one of the most respected researchers in the field. He was barely in his early twenties and earning a master's degree, and had mincemeat out of almost half of Lucas' team, even with type advantages and multiple strategies.

Lucas managed to fight back and was now down to the Leader's final Pokemon, but both opponents knew the match could still go either way. Bugsy's final Pokemon was a Scizor, a powerful steel and bug type, and Lucas was almost out of Pokemon that would have an advantage against it.

Bugsy waited for his opponent to make a move, his Scizor almost humming with anticipation over the fight. Lucas's brain was firing all cylinders, trying to quickly come up with a plan to deal with such a powerful Pokemon. And then all at once the solution came to him as the words 'Bugsy was a bug type expert' looped in his head. Bugsy was an expert on bug Pokemon. _Just _bug Pokemon. And that meant even if he studied every strength and weakness bug types had, he couldn't possibly think through what every other type of Pokemon was capable of. And Lucas tapped into his own greatest skill, his adaptability and ability to think on the fly, "Lairon, return! Go Curly!"

The Leader looked at his opponent's Pokemon curiously, "What Pokemon is that?"

Lucas smiled. If Bugsy didn't know what his Pokemon was, then it meant he didn't know what his Pokemon was capable of. He had selected and trained the ice type in hopes it would do well with its type advantage, but against a Scizor the Christmas tree Pokemon would be largely evenly matched. As the jolly Pokemon appeared on the field, its ability, Snow Warning, came into play. The Snover's flapping arms triggered a hail storm that would blanket the field every turn, "This is a Snover, a Pokemon from the Sinnoh region,"

Bugsy studied the Pokemon thoughtfully and after a moment gave a small sneer, "Looks like it's part grass type. That won't last long against Scizor. Use Steel Claw!"

"Ice Shard!" Lucas said quickly. The cheery Snover focused on the battle and launched an icicle from her arm, spearing the Scizor head-on before it could act. The Pokemon flinched in pain and surprise. As the round ended the hail kicked up and pelted the already injured bug type.

"T-there's no way that thing is faster than a Scizor! Use Quick Attack this time!" the Scizor shook off its injury and swiped at the Snover. The bug's high attack power slicing through a good chunk of the other Pokemon's health. Thankfully the attack wasn't a super effective move, or Lucas' tactic would be sunk.

Lucas winced from seeing Curly injured and responded to the assault, "Ingrain!"

With a determined 'wudju!' Curly dug her roots into the Gym floor, pulling vital nutrients out of the earth and recovering some of her lost health. Additionally the hail flared again, and once more the Scizor was injured.

Bugsy called out to his Pokemon again, "We can finish this round in one, Scizor! Steel Claw again!"

"Ice Shard!" and once more the Snover speared the flying red mantis before it could move, and as a stroke of fortune, made her opponent flinch yet again. Lucas would not be so lucky in the next round, a Steel Claw getting off after Lucas used Ice Shard again, nearly robbing Curly of all her strength. Yet she held on by that thread, recovering some health while the bug type continued to be battered by the hail.

Finally the Scizor managed to knock the Snover out after two more brutal rounds, but the once powerful Pokemon was running on nothing but fumes. And so Lucas pulled out his final trump card, one he hadn't needed to pull in a Gym match for a very long time, "Nice work, Curly! Gizmo, use Dig!"

"Night Slash!" the Scizor swiped the small Eevee painfully, but the determined Pokemon endured the hit and dove into the ground. The hail had cleared since Curly had passed out, but the Scizor would not last long, and was experiencing one of the few disadvantages of its high speed.

Until Gizmo was out of the ground, the Scizor could not strike him, something both Trainers knew. And so the once confident young academic called out a knowingly futile attack before the small normal type struck from below, delivering the final blow against the powerful Pokemon, and sealing the match. The Eevee let out one of its victory chirps before running back excitedly to Lucas' shoulder. Bugsy's cheerful nature seemed to dissipate as he absorbed the loss, replaced by an almost childlike pout now that he had been foiled, "I have been studying bug types since I was a kid. I know everything there is to know about them. But...it appears that knowing my own type inside and out doesn't mean much if I don't know what other Pokemon can do. What is Ice Shard anyway?"

"Ice Shard is like an ice type version of Quick Attack. It always goes first, and sometimes it can make your opponent flinch," Lucas explained.

With a grimace Bugsy swallowed his pouting mood and smiled again at his now former opponent, "I'll have to watch out for that attack in the future. That was a truly great match, however. Most of my battles are nowhere near that intense since I'm most people's second Gym stop. I appreciate the challenge. And the information I've gained today. So as annoyed as I am that I'm still not the expert I want to be, I gladly present to you the Azalea Gym's Hive Badge, and the TM for U-Turn,"

The two young men shook hands respectfully, and Lucas accepted his prizes. Two Gyms down, just five to go until he could go to Blackthorn City and be reunited with Skyler. Johto might have been running him ragged, but if he could keep this pace he would not only soon have his third League Championship, he would be back with the person he loved most.

Lucas spent the rest of the day in Azalea Town celebrating his victory and prepared to leave the next morning. His next stop and the next Gym would be in Goldenrod City, and being that he had been there more times than he could count, could fly to the city in minutes. But that would rob him of the opportunity to look for Pokemon in Ilex Forest.

Ilex Forest was the largest wooded area in Johto, a dense forest packed with pine trees, unusual Pokemon and some of the most sacred legends of Johto. Most of the trees were ancient, and though huge and valuable, very few were ever cut down each year, making the growth into a virtual maze that non-Trainers avoided on principle. Lucas had always wanted to see it for himself, and even with all his travels, and his time in the Eterna Forest in Sinnoh where he had first met Gizmo, found himself taken aback by Ilex Forest.

Just a few steps outside of Azalea Town and the forest consumed almost everything: the sound and smoke from the town behind him, the unmistakable skyline of Goldenrod just in front of him, even the sunlight itself, with just the tiniest, most determined beams peering through the overgrowth. If the path of the forest wasn't so well worn, he too could have ended up lost in Ilex's groves. Deeper in the wood he could hear some of Azalea's woodworkers using their Farfetch'd to cut some branches and the rare whole tree, the small, roadside shrine just ahead of him explaining why. Lucas had heard the stories of Ilex's guardian, it being one of Johto's most popular myths. It was said a mythical Pokemon guarded Ilex forest, having the ability to move through time and see all that there was and all that there was to be. Because it knew the future, it knew if anything ever happened to the forest, Johto would be doomed. So the forest was never to be injured or destroyed, that all trees and branches had to be taken with express permission, and that to disobey would mean to be lost in time forever. How true these legends were were of course up for debate, but no one could deny that occasionally a bewildered person would stumble out of the forest after being lost for days, but claimed that they hadn't been home in months. And the shrine was piled high with offerings from the woodcutters just to be on the safe side. The teen put his own offering on the shelf before the tiny shrine's doors, a pretty stone he had picked up on one of Hoenn's beaches, and asked the forest's guardian for safe passage through the woods and fortune in finding new Pokemon to add to his team.

He started moving down the path to the left, the one that would lead him out of the forest to Goldenrod, but before the tattooed Trainer got very far, he heard a curious sound coming from the darker, more treacherous path on the right. With all the breaking twigs and rustling bushes, he had assumed he had stumbled on a Pokemon, maybe an Aipom, perhaps a Pineco, or maybe if he was _really_ lucky, a Heracross, and went to investigate. He carefully pushed aside low branches, avoided sticking his boots in raised roots and followed the sound to its source. Instead of finding a Pokemon tangled in a thorn bush, what the teen found was a human woman.

She appeared to be a geisha, her long, colorful kimonos hooked and torn in the brambles and her normally expertly tied sashes disheveled and causing her entire outfit to threaten to come loose. Her age was difficult to tell because of her heavy white makeup, but her embarrassment and behavior upon being discovered suggested to the pierced teen that she couldn't have been more than a year or two older than him, if that. At first she seemed to panic, not unlike a frightened animal, upon first seeing him. He tried not to roll his eyes. Though he had gotten used to that most people would see past his appearance and focus on his talents as a Trainer, he knew some people saw a boy with stretched ear lobes, a red Mohawk and hoops in both corners of his mouth and assumed the worst. She tried again to futilely pull against the bramble and her only reward was the ugly sound of fabric tearing with she herself not being any freer.

He couldn't see her blushing through the powder on her face, but her eyes refused to meet his as she spoke incredibly formally, finally addressing the man as she seemingly had no choice, "Greetings, gentle stranger. I am most grateful for your appearance in my time of need, though I shall be forever shamed that I became entrenched in this predicament to begin with. Would you kindly assist in detangling me from this bush?"

"Yeah, sure," Lucas sighed, set down his duffel bag and went to the task of freeing the geisha. He started with her hair, figuring that would be the most painful, and tried his best to not destroy the elaborate updo that no doubt took hours to arrange. He didn't bother pulling out the leaves or twigs, figuring the appearance wasn't as vital as not being trapped. Next he unhooked the snared fabric thorn by thorn. The outermost layer of her kimono would be ruined beyond repair, but at least she would be out of the bush and not forced to strip naked to escape. That last left her obi. The sash of a geisha's kimono was as elaborately tied as her hair, and would have been done up by an assistant from the back. In spite of his best efforts the sash became loosened and she was forced to clutch at her kimono to keep it closed. The girl would never be able to fix it herself and so Lucas offered further help once the last part of the fabric was freed from the brush, "I can't do it up nice like a real obi, but I can knot it up so your robes won't slip open,"

To this the geisha covered her face with both her hands and turned demurely away from the teen. The Trainer interpreted this to mean the offer was too intrusive and stooped to pick up his bag and his Pokemon. When the girl noticed he was intending to walk away, she called out to him, "Oh no, please do not depart! I am simply ashamed to require such assistance, but please, good sir, I am afraid I must infringe upon your favor once more. Yes, your help with my robes would be most appreciated, and I trust that since you've acted so gallantly this far, you shall continue to do so,"

Lucas shrugged and turned around while she readjusted the kimonos to close properly, and when she had finished, the teen straightened the fabric of the obi out and did a basic square knot. It didn't look elegant but it would hold, "What's someone like you doing in the forest, anyway?"

The geisha got even more uncomfortable than before, and Lucas noticed as she spoke again her formal speech seemed to slip slightly, "I was asked to deliver a message in person in Azalea Town. It was my first time here, and well, I don't have a very good sense of direction. I got here okay, but I mixed up the directions going back. You take the right fork going to Azalea Town, not from coming _from_ it,"

"Okay, fair enough. So riddle me this: why did you try to push through the brambles?"

She smiled sheepishly, no longer an elegant geisha, but a teen girl Lucas could have easily gone to school with, "That was dumb. I thought maybe if I kept going I could find a shortcut and no one would know I got lost. It was pretty stupid, but to be honest, I was only just made a full geisha recently, and this was my first assignment outside of the house. I guess I just wanted to show I was capable of doing something on my own. Since I needed your help it sort of defeated the purpose, now didn't it?"

Lucas smiled in spite of himself. Old fashioned geishas and certain traditions were never anything that appealed to the teen even if he knew he had to respect it, but he liked this girl, "No one has to know. You can tell by the way I look I don't exactly have a lot of connections in the ceremonial community,"

The geisha smiled, this time hiding her mouth with the corner of her sleeve, "I suppose not. Though since you mention it, I must apologize for appearing so frightened of you. That was incredibly rude of me to assume that you could mean me some harm simply because of your appearance,"

"Nah, it's okay. I imagine it's pretty scary for any woman to be stuck somewhere and have a man she doesn't know find her. I'm Lucas by the way,"

"Emiko," the geisha said with a very formal bow. After a moment she lifted herself up and bowed again, "I have burdened your time and your kindness already, but I fear if I attempt to go through the forest unaccompanied I will become lost again. Even if a geisha of Ecruteak City, I don't appear to be on the guardian of the forest's good side today. Would it be an imposition to ask for your assistance a final time? Just until we get out of the forest? It it easy enough to navigate through Goldenrod City back to Ecruteak. But these woods do all look the same,"

Lucas laughed, "Sure. As long as you don't mind me catching Pokemon while we go through it,"

"That would be fine. I too am a Pokemon Trainer. It is considered an elegant pursuit to engage clients in battle as well as conversation and drink," her tone slipped back to a more informal one, "And I have to add, your Eevee is really darling. Reminds me of my own precious Honeysuckle before he evolved,"

"Cool, so we'll have something to talk about as we walk. I mean, I know geisha are supposed to be these great conversationalists or whatever, but I have to say, when you use that high and mighty talk, it's sort of intimidating to say anything,"

"I understand. My Mama-san would kill me, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, I can talk the way I did before my training,"

Lucas and Emiko backtracked away from the darker, thicker part of Ilex Forest and returned to the normal path. The two walked and talked, Lucas learning Emiko was originally from Goldenrod City, and while her friends dreamed of being actresses and pop idols, she had wanted to be a geisha for as long as she could remember. The Trainer told her about his recent trip to Sinnoh and Hoenn, and how he had just won his second badge when he was in Azalea. It turned out she had evolved her Eevee Honeysuckle into a Flareon, and that at her geisha house it was a custom for all the girls to have Eeveelutions, and to evolve their Pokemon during their initiation from junior to full geisha. The teen finally captured an Aipom though he had no luck finding any Pineco, and they found a few useful items on the forest floor, dropped by other Trainers fighting their way through the woods. As the day approached afternoon, more light trickled in between the trees, but nothing entirely broke the forest's shadows, and the only sounds in the forest were the two Trainers talking.

Before they realized it, they were getting close to the forest's exit. The silhouette of the gatehouse starting to appear before them, Lucas noticed a tangle of roots and bushes and stooped down before looking to Emiko. The geisha cocked her head slightly, "I am afraid I do not understand what you wish for me to do,"

"Hop on my back. I'll carry you across this patch," Lucas gestured again, wiggling his fingers to indicate where Emiko was to put her feet. The geisha remained standing, not sure she wanted to do what the Trainers suggested. Seeing her hesitation he added, "There's no way you're going to make it across this stuff without tripping in those getta of yours. Sandals like that weren't designed for walking on anything except level ground and with your small steps you'll faceplant over the first root,"

"A-alright, but I do not like being this much of a burden to you,"

"Meh. It's okay. You just happened to catch me in a gallant mood today. Plus you seem pretty cool. I'd probably help you out even if you weren't some delicate geisha," Lucas' surprisingly friendly smile reassured the young woman and she bowed in gratitude. Carefully she wrapped her arms around Lucas' neck and he reached behind himself and hooked her ankles for additional support, hoisting both of them up until the geisha was balanced and started walking forward. Gizmo chirped a friendly greeting to the woman who had taken his place, and climbed onto the geisha's shoulders as Lucas walked through the tangle, his boots and thick pants crunching the plants that attempted to block them.

Past the worst of it was Ilex Forest's seemingly only clearing. After the shadows and limited light, the sunlight coming down was almost blinding. Lucas set Emiko down here when they both noticed something rather unusual before them. An Oddish hopping and dancing in the sun's rays. There seemed to be a pattern to the Pokemon's movements, it doing its hop, hop, pirouette before changing directions and starting again. Emiko commented first, "How unusual,"

"Yeah, what's an Oddish doing out in the daytime? I thought they were nocturnal," Lucas replied.

The geisha shook her head, "They are, but that wasn't to what I was referring. I can't say I've ever seen a dancing Oddish. Those moves, those are almost identical to a hat dance,"

The humans speaking interrupted the Pokemon, and it stopped to observe them. It didn't seem aggressive or upset, rather more startled that anyone was there in the first place and approached the two Trainers with a curious 'Odd? Odd?' The creature almost sounded spacey, as though it were deciding if the humans were really there, if it was simply a daydream, or if either of those points mattered when it came to its dance.

The grass type reminded Lucas of one of his first Pokemon, a Rotom named Sparky that was currently being studied by Professor Oak and his team. He missed his Pokemon, and seeing the endearing, unusual Oddish, decided he needed to catch it, "Go Old Soldier!"

Lucas summoned his Raticate, but the Oddish didn't seem to care, as though battles and Pokemon Trainers didn't really matter in the grand scheme of the universe, and that a leaf flittering down from the tree behind it held more of the meaning of life. The battle hardened rodent gave his Trainer a confused look, as though it couldn't believe the Pokemon's behavior anymore than the humans did. Lucas didn't have anymore of an idea of what to do than his Radicate did. If the Pokemon didn't want to fight, attacking it seemed unsporting, but at this rate, the Oddish would probably just wander back into the grass and get away. The teen took a risk and pulled out a Pokeball to hurl at the Pokemon.

The Oddish once more looked introspective as the ball flew towards its face, no doubt some internal debate about philosophy of the definition of freedom. Like all other Pokemon before it, regardless of their spirituality, the Oddish was sucked into the piece of human technology. However, unlike other Pokeballs Lucas had thrown, this one didn't seem to shake. Not the once, twice, three times, four times, click that the Trainer had gotten used to. It didn't move at all. The teen had no idea what to do, looking to his fellow Trainer the geisha to see if she had any insight. She too shrugged her shoulders, not sure if it meant he had captured the Pokemon or not. But after a moment the ball clicked and the question was answered for them.

Picking up the Pokeball with the now captured Oddish, he couldn't help but think that the experiences he had with this Pokemon would be unlike any other, even with the Rotom he momentarily thought she resembled. No, as spacey and curious as Sparky was, this Oddish, which he would call Flora, was in a league entirely her own.

The gatehouse was just past the clearing and it meant the forest had ended. Through the man-made building, the domain of the forest's guardian ended, and the road turned back into a paved route, with Goldenrod's massive skyline filling the horizon.

It was at this point that Lucas and Emiko parted. Once past the gatehouse, the geisha turned to her chaperon and bowed, fully returned to her gracious, elegant persona in spite of her torn robes, messy hair and crookedly tied obi, "Dear Lucas, who I now regard as a friend. I am most grateful for your assistance and company on this day, and hope that my inferior presence was satisfactory to you. When I became lost, I had assumed that I have failed as a geisha of Ecruteak and had gained the ire of the forest's guardian. But after meeting you, I now view that perhaps it was the guardian's intention and my good fortune that we should meet. I do hope we meet again,"

"I'd like that Emiko. And if you'd like any more help, all you have to do is ask," Lucas gave an awkward bow back. Emiko closed her eyes and hid her smile with the corner of her sleeve. She said she had one last task at the gatehouse she needed to do before heading onto Goldenrod, and urged Lucas to go on ahead. Reluctantly, the teen listened, still slightly worried about the surprisingly likable but easily turned around geisha and continued up Route 34, thinking about the interesting day he just had by deciding to take a walk through the forest.


End file.
